IF 6Q6 
.H595 
Copy 1 



Ilflfli@^A 






1868 




PUBLISHED BY THE STATE 



SEND LIST OF NAMES TO 

GIRART HEWITT, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, 

By whom it will be mailed, free of charge, to each name sent him. 
SECOND EDITION. 



' 1868. 



NOTICE. 



This pamphlet is offered for gratuitous circulation, in order that 
persons here. and elsewhere, knowing our healthy climate and 
prolific soil, may let their friends and others seeking new 
homes, know of Minnesota, before they incur the fearful risk of 
plunging themselves and families into the fever-ridden districts 
of other States. 

For that purpose it is deposited with Girart Hewitt, St. 
Paul, Minnesota, who will mail it to any names sent him, and 
cheerfully answer letters of inquiry as to this State. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1868, by GIRART HEWITT, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States 

for the District of Minnesota. 



REAL ESTATE OFFICE, 

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA, 

(Established in 1856.) 

Sells Farms, Farm Lands, Dwellings, and Business 

Property. Makes Investments, Loans and Collects 

Money, Examines Titles, Pays Taxes, &c. &c. 

(Correspondent for Capitalists.) 

GIRART HEWITT, 

Attorney at L.aw. , 



MINNESOTA: 

ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 

1868. 



BEING A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF 

ITS HISTORY AND PROGRESS, CLIMATE, SOIL, AGRICULTURAL 

AND MANUFACTURING FACILITIES, COMM^ROIAL 

CAPACITIES, AND SOCIAL STATUS ; 

ITS LAKES, RIVERS AND RAILROADS; 
HOMESTEAD AND EXEMPTION LAWS ; 

EMBRACING A CONCISE TREATISE ON ITS 

CLIMATOLOGY, IN A HYGIENIC AND SANITARY POINT 
OF VIEW ; 

ITS UNPARALLELED SALUBRITY, GROWTH AND 
PRODUCTIVENESS, 

AS COMPARED WITH THE OLDER STATES ; 
AND THE 

ELEMENTS OF ITS FUTURE GREATNESS AND PROSPERITY. 




FOR GUiATXJITOXJS CIRCXJL ATI ON, 

ORDER COPIES TO ANY ADDRESS, FROM 

GIRART HEWITT, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA. 
1868. 



STATEMENT. 



One yeaf ago my first pamphlet was issued. It suddenly attained a popular- 
ity far beyond my expectations. Seven editions were issued, and did not supply 
the demand. The flattering endorsement by the press, the Legislature, the 
State Board of Immigratioif, and a generous public, justify me in offering an 
edition for 186S. This is issued upon the same plan and same terms; it is sent 
by mail, free of charge, to all whose names are furnished me. The experience 
of twelve months — a correspondence embracing every State and Territory of 
our own and many foreign countries — the reception of over one hundred thou- 
sand names — have convinced me that Minnesota is scarcely known in the world, 
and that reliable information on the subject is eagerly sought. 

This edition necessarily contains much that was in the others, yet it will be 
found enlarged and improved in many respects, and to contain such changes and 
additions as the prosperous year 1867 ''Q'-nished, and brings us down to date. 

I have tried to avoid exaggeration, aiming to faithfully and impartially repre- 
sent the whole State. Upon the impoitaut question of health, I have given the 
able treatise of Dr. T. Williams, and added thereto the opinion of Dr. D. W. 
Hand, of St. Paul, from whom I lasked a critical review, because of his experi- 
ence as a physician in the East, South and Minnesota. 

Coming here nearly twelve years ago, an invalid, myself a beneficiary of this 
climate, I have studied this question with interest, and can say that each year has 
served to confirm me iu the belief that Minnesota is unsurpassed for health. 

GIRART HEWITT. 



St, Paul, January, 1868. 






MID^T^ESOITA.: 

ITS ADYANTAGE'S TO SETTLER S 



GEOGRAPHICAL. 

The 'State of Minnesota is one of the youngest in the united sisterhood o 
States. It was admitted into the Union in May, 1858, being the thirty-second 
State admitted into the Union. It derives its name from two Indian words, 
" Mivne " and " Sotah," " sky-tinted water," in reference to its numerous and 
beautiful streams and lakes which from their crystal purity reflect the clear, steel- 
blue skies. The State lies between 43° 30' and 49° north latitude, and 91° 
and 97° 5' west longitude. It is bounded on the north by the British Posses- 
sions ; on the south by the State of Iowa ; east by Wisconsin and Lake Supe- 
rior, and west by Dakota Territory. Its estimated area is 84,000 square miles, 
or about 54,000,000 acres, thus making it one of the largest States in the Union, 
being nearly equal to the combined areas of the large and populous States of ' 
Ohio and Pennsylvania, and embracing a larger extent of territory than the 
whole of New England, capable of eventually sustaining a population equal to 
that of England. 

Advantageous Geographical Position. — The geographical position of Min- 
nesota is the most favored on the continent. Its location is central between 
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Hudson's Bay on the north, and the Gulf of 
Mexico on the south. It is also midway between the arable limits of the con- 
tinent, where the products of agriculture attain their most perfect development 
Generally speaking, the valleys of the Mississippi, St. Lawrence and Red River 
may be said to rise in the form of a huge convex mass, which culminates in the 
sand dunes or drift hills in the northern part of Minnesota, where those three 
great rivers take their rise and flow north, south and northeast. Minnesota is thus 
the actual summit cf the continent, and the pinnacle of the watershed of North 
America. In reference to this fact, the Hon. Wm. H. Seward, in a speech 
delivered at St. Paul in 1860, says, " Here spring up almost side by side, so 
that they may kiss each other, the two great rivers of the continent," the 
Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, rising almost within a stone's throw of each 
other, and running in opposite directions,— the one half way to Europe, the 
other bearing our commerce to the G uif of Mexico, gathering the products of 
the cotton plantations of the South and bringing them to the vast water powers 
of the Upper Mississippi. 

The arable area of the vast territory northwest of us — bounded on the north 
by the line of arctic temperature, and south by the arid sandy plains — is pro- 
jected through the valley of the Saskatchewan to the Pacific border ; " grimly 
guarded by the Itasca summit of the Mississippi, 1680 feet high on the east, 
and the Missouri coteau, 2000 feet high on the west," it forms " the only avenue of 
conmercial communication between the east and west coasts, the only possible 
route of a Pacific railway, and the only theater now remaining for the formation 
of new settlements." Lying exactly across the commercial isthmus thus hemmed 
in, and which is the only outlet of this vast region to the Eastern and Southern 
States, Minnesota is the gateway between the eastern and western sides of the 
continent. " Through this one pass," says Mr. Wheelock, " between the con- 



4 MINNESOTA : 

tinental deserts of sand and ice, must flow the great esodus now dashing itself in 
vain against their shores, j£ the tribes of Asia flowed into Europe through the 
passes of the Caucasus. Every advancing wave of population lifts higher and 
higher this gathering flood of American life, which, the moment that it begins 
to press upon the means of subsistence, must pour all its vast tide through 
this narrow channel into the inland basins of the Northwest — till the Atlantic 
and Pacific are united in a li-ving chain of populous*States." 

This commanding physical position of Minnesota gives it the key and control 
of the outlet of the great mass of the commerce of the immense and produc- 
tive regions of the western and northwestern portions of the continent — regions as 
yet almost a wilderness, but whose incalculably large exports and imports, fol- 
lowing the inexorable laws of commerce, must find their highway through our 
State, when at no distant day those large and feitile districts north and west 
of us swarm with the industry of empires, and pour their wealth into our 
coffers, giving us a significance second to none in the world. Not only that, 
but, instead of passing by us and going two thousand miles east to trade, the 
workshops and factories which even now are opening up so rapidly on our wa- 
ter-powei-s will supply them and enrich us ; thus making this vast region tributary 
to us as surely as the West ever has heretofore been tributary to the East. Notic- 
ingthis fact, in the speech already alluded to, Mr. Seward says, " Here is the place, 
the central place, where the agriculture of the richest region of North America 
must pour out its tributes to the whole world. On the east, all along the shore 
of Lake Superior, and west, stretching in one broad plain, in a belt quite across 
■ the continent, is a country where State after State is yet to arise, and where the 
productions for the support of human society in the old, crowded States must 
be brought forth." Then follows the remarkable and far-seeing views of this 
great statesman and politician, that Minnesota is yet to exercise a powerful 
influence in the political destinies of this continent. " Power is not to reside 
permanently on the eastern slope of the Alleghany mountains, nor in the seaports. 
Seaports have always been overrun and controlled by the people of the interior, 
and the power that shall communicate and express the will of men on this conti- 
nent is to be located in the Mississippi Valley, and at the sources of the Missis- 
sippi and St. Lawrence." Mr. Seward only expresses the fact, taught by the 
whole past history of the whole world, that empire travels westward, when he 
asserts, " I now believe that the ultimate, last seat of government on this great 
continent will be found somewhere within a circle or radius not very far from the 
spot on which I stand, at the head of navigation on the Mississippi River." 

The future destiny of Minnesota therefore is to be a glorious one, and fortu- 
nate the descendants of those who may now obtain an interest and foothold 
within her borders. We will proceed to speak more specially of the true ele- 
ments of this future greatness and prosperity, as already indicated by the 
unerring logic of facts and unparalleled growth. 

HISTORICAL OUTLET. 

Minnesota is what was once the " land of the Dakotas," who inhabited it long 
before their existence was known to white men. Their chief council chamber 
was in Carver's Cave, near where the present capital of the State now stands. 

The honor of discovering Minnesota is divided between Louis Hennepin, a 
Franciscan priest, and DuLuth, a French explorer. Hennepin was sent out in 
the spring of 1680 to explore the Upper Mississippi in company with two 
traders ; he was captured by the Indians and carried to the present site of St. 
Paul. On his return in June, he met DuLuth and a party of explorers. He 
claims to have discovered the Falls of the Mississippi, and bestowed upon them 
the name of St. Anthony in honor of his patron saint. 

In 1689, Perrot, accompanied by LeSueur and others, took formal posseasioa 
of the country embracing Minnesota, in the name of France, and established a 
fort on the west shore of Lake Pepin. Although discovered upwards of two 
hundred years ago, the settlement of Minnesota did not commence until about 
twenty years ago, with the exception of a few scattering pioneer hunters, traders 



i 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 5 

and missionaries, who took up their abode in it at a much earlier date. During 
the lapse of two centuries the vast northwest, embracing the best lands and 
climate on the continent, remained a wilderness, while the Atlantic and Western 
States were being settled. Very vague and erroneous notions prevailed in 
regard to this region, which was popularly supposed to be too cold and inhos- 
pitable for agricultural pursuits. But this region reproduces the west and north 
of Europe, containing the most powerful and enlightened nations on the globe, 
with the exceptions caused by vertical configuration only, aod gives an immense 
and yet unmeasured capacity for occupation and expansion, containing an area 
above the forty-third parallel, perfectly adapted to the fullest occupation by 
cultivated nations, not inferior to the whole of the United States east of the 
Mississippi. 

This region, extending to the Pacific, and of which Minnesota is the " garden 
spot," is yet destined to supersede in wealth and agricultural and manufacturing 
importance the older part of the United States, lying on the Atlantic coast and 
east of the Mississippi, and to become the seat of empire on the Americaa 
continent 

" The parallel in regard to the advancement of American States here may be 
drawn with the period of the earliest trans- Alpine Roman expansion, when Gaul, 
Scandinavia, and Britain were regarded as inhospitable regions, fit only for 
barbarian occupation. The enlightened nations then occupied the latitudes near 
the Mediterranfian, and the richer northern and western countries were unopened 
and unknown."* 

In the year 1695, the second post in Minnesota was established by LeSueur ; 
and in October, 1700, he explored the Minnesota and Blue Earth rivers and 
established another post on the latter. From this period up to 1746, the history 
of Minnesota is nothing more than the history of the adventures of LeSueur 
and the traders among the Indians, and the wars of the latter among themselves, 
and is full of wild and romantic incidents. At this time France and England 
were involved in a war which extended to their colonies in the New World, and 
the French enlisted many savages of the Upper Mississippi on their side. 

On the 8th of September, 1760, the French delivered up their posts in Canada 
to the English. By a treaty made at Versailles in 1763, France ceded the 
territory comprised within the limits of Minnesota and Wisconsin to England. 
But for a long time the English got no foothold in their newly acquired territory, 
owing to tte greater popularity of the French, many of whom had married 
Indian wives. But little was known of the country previous to 1766, when 
Jonathan Carver of Counecticut explored it, and afterwards went to England and 
wrote a book of his adventures. Even at this early day, though over a thousand 
miles intervened between the Falls of St. Anthony and any white settlement, the 
explorer was impressed with the beauty and fertility of the country, and spoke 
of the commercial facilities its future inhabitants would enjoy via the Mississippi 
and the northern chain of lakes. Carver's Cave at St. Paul, in which several 
bands of Indians held an annual grand council— making it the capital of the 
State a hundred years ago — was named after him. 

After the peace between the United States and England in 1783, England 
ceded her /aim to the territory south of the British Possessions to the 
United Stau^s. December 20, 1803, the province of Louisiana, embracing that 
portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi, was ceded to the United States by 
France, who ou the first of the same month had received it from Spain ; the 
latter objected to the transfer, but withdrew her opposition in 1804. In 1806, 
Gen. Zebulon M. Pike explored this region of country, and his reports, and 
those of Long, Fremont, Pope, Marcy, Sta^ sberry, and other militaiy officers 
exerted a large influence in first attracting attention to Minnesota as a field for 
settlement. He obtained a gi-ant of land from the Sioux Indians on which Fort 
Snelling, five miles above St. Paul, was built in 1820. 

The English traders still lingered in Minnesota after its cession to the United 
States, and incited by them against the Americans, the Indians became trouble- 

* " Blodget's Climatology of the United States," page 52& . 



Q MINNESOTA : 

Bome, and during the war of 1812 generally took sides with the English, After 
the peace of 1815 they acknowledged the authority of the United States, bat 
the Ojibways and Dakotas (or Siouxs) being hereditary enemies continued to 
war amono- themselves. In 1812 a small settlement was formed in the Red 
Biver country, composed principally of Scotchmen, under the auspices of Lord 
Selkirk. They were greatly persecuted by the Hudson Bay Company, who 
claimed the sole right of hunting and trading for furs in the northwest. In 1821, 
" after years of bloodshed, heart-burnings, fruitless litigation, and vast expeusei, 
the strife was concluded by a compromise between the two companies." Iq 
1822, the first mill in Minnesota was erected where Minneapolis now stands. 
In 1823, the first steamboat that ever ascended the Mississippi above Rock 
Island, arrived at Fort Snelliug to the great astonishment of the natives. 

In 1820, Missouri was admitted into the Union as a State, leaving the territory 
north of it, including Iowa and all of Minnesota west of the river, without any 
organized government. In 1834, it was attached to Michigan for judicial pur- 
poses. In 1836, Nicollet arrived in Minnesota and spent some time in exploring 
the sources of the Mississippi. 

In 1837, the piue forests of the valley of the St. Croix and its tributariea were 
ceded to the United States by the Ojibways ; and the same year the Dakotas 
ceded all their lands east of the Mississippi. These treaties were ratified June 
15, 1838. ■ 

One of the earliest settlers in St. Paul, the present capital of the State, was 
named Phalon. Other families from the Red River settlement settling there, 
Father Gaultier, a Catholic missionary, built a log chapel, "blessed the new 
basilica,^' and dedicated it to St. Paul, which thus came to be the name of the 
city, which previous to that time had been called " Pig's eye." In 1848 St. 
Paul was a small settlement, and contained only 840 inhabitants in 1849 ; io 
1855 it had four or five thousand ; 10,600 in 1860, and about 14,000 in 1866, 
16,000 in 1866, 18,000 in 1867, and sold $8,000,000 worth at wholesale during 
the year. 

In 1843, the settlement of Stiilwater, on the St. Croix, 18 miles from St Paul, 
was commenced. 

Territorial Organization. — On the 3d of March, 1849, the Territory of 
Minnesota was organized, its boundaries including the present Territory of 
Dakota, and St. Paul designated as the capital. April 28th the first newspaper 
was issued in the new capital. Alexander Ramsey was appointed- Governor, 
and arrived with his family the latter part of May. On the first of June he 
proclaimed the Territorial government organized. The Territory contained 
4,680 inhabitants at this time. 

After the organization of the Territory, immigration flowed in rapidly, aad 
both St. Paul and country were settled very fast. On the 1st of August, 1849, 
the first delegate (H. H. Sibley) was elected to Congress, and on the 3d of 
September the first Legislative Assembly met and created nine counties. In 
1850 small steamboats commenced to run on the Minnesota river. 

In 1851 an important treaty was effected with the Dakotas, by which their 
title to the west side of the Mississippi and the valley of the Minnesota river 
was extinguished, and this vast tract open to settlement At a ve.-y early day 
Minnesota took the subject of common schools in hand, and the first report of 
a Superintendent of Public Instruction was presented to the third Legislative 
Assembly, which met in January, 1852. 

From this time forward immigration flowed into Minnesota at high tide, and 
the State filled up with unprecedented rapidity. Villages and towns sprang up 
as if by magic. Land speculation ran high, and during the period of the greatest 
inflation of prices, the financial cra^i of 1857 fell like a thunderbolt. Great 
distress and stagnation of busiuess was the direct result, and for a year or two 
the rapid growth of the State was arrested. But the remoter consequences of 
the crash were permanently beneficial to the State. Towns had sprung up like 
mushrooms without sufficient tributary agricultural districts to support them. 
Rent and living were ruinously high. After the crash, the speculator's occupa- 
tion was gone ; the energies of the inhabitants were directed to manufactures 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 7 

and agriculture — the basis of all true State or National prosperity. Previous 
to that era, breadstufFs had been imported; in 1854 the number of plowed acres 
in the State was only 15,000 ; in 1860, there were 433,276, and in 1866, 1,000,- 
OOO, and in 1867, over 1,200,000. Minnesota was suddenly developed as one of 
the finest grain growing States in the Union, and in 1865 exported upwards of 
8,000,000 bushels of wheat, in 1866 over 10,000,000 bushels,, and in 1867 the 
aggregate yield was as much. , 

Admitted into the Union. — The State Constitution was framed by a convention 
elected for that purpose, which assembled at St. Paul in July, 1857, and it was 
voted upon and adopted the ensuing October. The State was admitted into 
ihe Union in May, 1858, the State government organized, and Hon. H. M. 
Rice and Gen. Jas. Shields elected to the U. S. Senate. In 1861, when the re- 
bellion broke out, our State promptly responded to all the calls made on her for 
men and money, though at a greater detriment to her growth and prosperity, 
perhaps, than that of any other State. Being a new State, she had no surplus 
population, and her quotas were taken from her grain fields, workshops and pine- 
ries, With a population of about 175,000 at the beginning of the war, she fur- 
nished about 24,000 men to the Union armies. Few States have such a record. 

The Indian Massacre. — In August, 1862, one of the most fiendish and wide- 
spread massacres recorded in American history took place upon the western 
frontier of Minnesota by the Dakota or Sioux Indians. A large military force, 
commanded by Gen. Sibley, was at once sent out, which soon laid waste the 
whole Indian country belonging to these tribes, killed " Little Crow," their leader, 
and utter y routed and subdued their braves. . A large number were captured ; 
some of them tried and sentenced to death — of these 38 were hung, and the 
others with their entire tribes, were, under the order of the General Government^ 
sent clean out of the country to a reservation beyond the Missouri river. 

Remarkable Progress of the State. — It will thus be seen that Minnesota has 
had extraordinary obstacles to overcome. The financial panic of 1857, the 
rebellion of 1861, and Indian war of 1862, have undoubtedly greatly retarded 
her growth ; yet, notwithstanding those drawbacks, she has grown more rapidly 
than any State in the Union. Her percentage of increase from 1860 to 1865 
was 45^ per cent., while that of Wisconsin was only 12, Illinois 27, Iowa 11, 
Michigan 7^. All danger from Indians has long since vanished ; perfect securi- 
ty reigns, and homes in the most remote parts of the State are as secure as those 
of New-England. In 1865 the population of the State was 250,000, an increase 
of 78,000 since 1860 ; the increase during the year 1866, 60,000, and in 1867, 
90,000— making 400,000 ; and the tide of immigration from our own and foreign 
countries seems but beginning' towards this State. 

Government. — The State government is very similar to that of the other Western 
States. The constitution sc'^ures civil and religious rights to all ; immigrants 
of proper age are allowed to vote after a residence of foui* months^ and foreign- 
ers secure very liberal terms of citizenship. 

The present State Officers are as follows : — William R. Maesecall, Governor; 

Thomas H, Armstrong, Lieutenant Governor ; Henry C. Rogers, Secretary 

of State ; Charles McIlrath, Auditor ; Emil Munch, Treasurer ; F. R. ^E. 

Cornell, Attorney General. ■ 

EXEMPTION LAWS OF MINNESOTA. 

Humane and Just Provisions. — Too much credit cannot be accorded the men 
of our Legislature for the wise and liberal provisions of our State Homestead 
and Exemption Law. When we recall for a moment the statutes of the older 
States in that barbarous age when an Exemption Law " of one hundred dollars " 
and "imprisonment for debt" disgraced their law-books, and contemplate the 
succession of revulsions that we have seen sweeping over the land, prostrating 
the business and business men, the energetic, progressive, Uve mer, of our country 
almost in a night, themselves, and those dependent on Ihem, involved in One com- 
mon ruin, say whether I too much honor those men whose legislation comes 
up to the spirit of the age in which we live, who have placed upon the statutes 
of Minnesota a Homestead and Exemption Law more liberal than that of any 
other State.' 



8 MINNESOTA : 

I quote from the statutes of 1866, page 498 : 

" That a homestead consisting of any quantity of land not exceeding eighty 
acres and the dwelling house thereon and its appurtenances, to be selected by; 
the owner thereof, and not included in any incorporated town, city or village, or 
instead thereof, at the option of the owner, a quantity of land not exceeding in 
- amount one lot, being within an incorporated town, city or village, and the 
dwelling house thereon and its appurtenances, owned and occupied by any resident 
of this State, shall not be subject to attachment, levy or sale, upon any execu- 
tion or any other process issuing out of any court within this State." 

Thus it will be seen that we have no limitation as to the value of the farm or 
residence thus secured to the family. It may be worth one thousand or ten 
thousand dollars. Whatever it is, it remains the shelter, the castle, the home of 
the family, to cluster around its hearthstone in the hour of gloom and disaster, as 
securely as they were wont to do in the sunshine of prosperity. 

While there may be those who prefer an exemption by value rather than area, 
and urge that one so liberal as ours can be taken advantage of by knaves, it 
must be remembered that no general law can be framed for the protection of the 
helpless and unfortunate, that will not be sometimes taken advantage of by 
others. We think it may be safely asserted that an exemption law such as ours, 
is found a blessing to thousands of worthy men, women and children for every 
one unworthily shielded by its provisions. 

Personal Property Exempted. — In addition to the home, there is also ex- 
empted a proportionately liberal amount of personal property, consisting of 
household furniture, library, horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, wagons, farming utensils, 
provisions, fuel, grain, &c., &c., and all the tools and instruments of any mechan- 
ic, and four hundred dollars' worth of stock in trade ; also the library and im- 
plements of any professional man. See State laws, page 489. 

UNITED STATES HOMESTEAD LAW. 

Large numbers are availing themselves of the liberal Homestead Law passed 
by Congress, and now in force. Minnesota possesses the only domain attractive 
to this class of settlers— having nearly forty million acres of public land yet 
open to entry and settlement. This law provides that each settler, in five years^ 
occupation, becomes the owner of " 160 acres by paying the sum of ten dollars 
and the fees of the land officer, provided he be a citizen of the United States or 
has declared his intention to become such;" and it further provides that " «» 
land acquired under the provhions of this act shall in any event become liable 
to the satisfaction of any debts contracted prior to the issuance of the patent 
therefor." In view of the immense quantity of "broad acres " thus offered with- 
out cost, situated as they are all over this new State, in districts well watered 
and timbered, where the mails and express are now extended, and railroads and 
telegi-aphs rapidly pushing their way, it is not surprising that thousands are 
coming into Minnesota annually to secure gcfod farms for themselves and their 
families — farms that will, in a few short years, be in the midst of cultivated 
neighborhoods, with churches and school-houses arising at every hand, amid all 
the surroundings of civilization and progress. 

LA^T) OFFICES. 

The land offices for the several land districts of Minnesota are located at the 
following places : — St. Peter, Nicollet County ; (ireenleaf. Meeker County ; 
Winnebago City, Faribault County ; St. Cloud, Stearns County ; Taylor's Falls, 
Chisago County ; Duluth, St. Louis County. 

DEMAND FOR LABOR LN" THE WEST. 

It is said a young man recently wrote Mr. Greeley of the " Tribune," to obtain a situa- 
tion, and he replied thai " New York is just entering upon the interesting process of Starving 
out 200,000 peoplP whom war and Its consequences has driven hither. It is impossible to 
employ more until these are gone." 

The journals of Eastern cities are annually filled ^ith complaints that there is 
a surplus of laborers and operatives in the East seeking work ; that the com- 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 9 

petition for employment is often such that workmen are willing to accept wages 
far below what is just to them and their families ; that the offices of European 
Consuls are beset with foreigners who have exhausted their means seeking em- 
ployment in the crowded Eastern cities. This does not and will not in a hundred 
years apply to the great West. Labor of all kinds, especially farm labor, must 
of necessity continue in demand here. Indeed one can scarcely imagine a con- 
dition of things in the West that will make it otherwise. Laborers and working 
men in almost every branch of industry are generally in scant supply and great 
demand throughout the West. Those lingering around the crowded seaports of 
the East with no hope beyond a mere subsistence, their families growing up in 
poverty and vice, having no chance with othars in the world, should turn their 
attention to the great West, where a free homestead, rich lands, education for 
their children, and a healthy climate invites them. Our pineries alone, give em- 
ployment to over 3,000 men, to say nothing of other branches of the lumber 
interest, and our numerous railroads now under construction, 

WESTERN PE'OPLE. 

The citizens of a young State, with " room and verge enough," are naturally 
anxious to grow in numbers. All are interested in this ; hence a welcome hand 
is extended to all who come, and laws are passed, as I have elsewhere said, se- 
curing them liberal terms of citizeiiship. Indeed, the word liberal applies to 
Minnesota and her people with more propriety than any I have ever known. 
I say this because it is true, and not in disparagement of others. It is owing, 
in some measure, to the fact that the men who take up their march with the star of 
empire on its westward way, are either the bold, live men of the older States, or 
their hearts and minds expand as they traverse the broad prairies of the fresh 
ftnd glorious West. To another cause, can we, to some extent, ascribe much 
that is liberal and agreeable in the West, and different from the older States. 
Here we have every nation and people represented ; they come from the North 
and the South, the East and the West. People of the old world meet here, 
Hiingle and marry with the people of the new. The result is an improvement ; 
a stock is raised mentally aad physically more vigorous than in older localities, 
where they have married and intermarried until " every one is cousin ; " deteri- 
oration the consequence, narrow and intolerant sentiments the rule. The differ- 
ence in these respects is observed by all who have lived long in the West, and 
then returned to the old localities whence they came. Hence it is that few who 
have ever lived in the West, are content to again reside in the East. 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OP THE STATE. 

Physical Districts. — The physical characteristics of a country exert an im- 
portant influence on its inhabitants. "Grand scenery, leaping waters, and a 
bracing atmosphere," — says Neill in his History of Minnesota, — " produce men 
of different cast from those who dwell where the land is on a dead level, and 
where the streams are all sluggards. We associate heroes like Tell and Bruce 
with the mountains of Switzerland and the highlands of Scotland." Although 
Minnesota is not a mountainous country by any means, its general elevation gives 
it all the advantages of one, without its objectionable features. Being equi- 
distant from the Atlautic and Pacific oceans, situated on an elevated plateau, 
and with a system of lakes and rivers ample for an empire, it has a peculiar 
climate of its own, possessed by no other State. 

The general surface of the greater part of the State is even and undulating, 
and pleasantly diversified with rolling prairies, vast belts of timber, oak openings, 
numerous lakes and streams, with their accompanying meadows, waterfalls, wood- 
ed ravines and lofty bluffs, which impart variety, grandeur and picturesque beauty 
to its scenery. 

The State may be divided into three principal districts. In the northern and 
■western part of the State an exception to its general evenness of surface occurs 
in an elevated district which may be termed the highlands of Minnesota. This 
district, resting on primary rocks, is of comparatively small extent — 16,000 



10 MINNESOTA : 

square miles — and covered with a dense growth of pine, fir, spruce, <fec.; it has 
an elevation of about 450 feet above the general level of the country, and is 
covered with bills of diluvial sand and drift, from 85 to 100 feet in-height, among 
which the three great rivers of the American Continent — the Mississippi, 
St. Lawrence, and Red River — take their rise. The temperature of this district 
is from 5 to 8 degrees lower than that of the rest of the State ; although pos- 
sessing some good land, its principle value consists in its immense forests and its 
rich mineral deposits of copper, iron and the precious metals. 

The valley of the Red River forms another district larger than the highlands, 
containing 18,000 square miles, with a deep, black soil composed of alluvial 
mould, and rich in organic deposits. This district pi-oduces the heaviest crops 
of grain, especially wheat, of any -section in the United States. It has a sub- 
soil of clay, is but sparsely timbered, with but few rivers or lakes, and is not 
therefore so well drained as other parts of the State. 

The Mississippi valley comprises the third district; it contains about 50,000 
square miles, or about three-fifths of the whole State. It is the " garden spot " 
of the Northwest, and comprises one of the finest agricultural districts in the 
world. Its general charactei istics are those of a rolling prairie region, resting 
on secondary rocks ; it is unusually well drained, both by the nature of the soil, 
which is a warm, dark calcareous and sandy loam, and the innumerable lakes and 
streams which cover its surface with a perfect network. It is dotted by numer- 
ous and extensive groves and belts of timber. These main districts are also 
subdivided into smaller ones by the valleys of the numerous streams which in- 
tersect them; but space does not admit of a detailed descrij^tion. 

Rivers and Strcains. — The Mississippi river, 2,400 miles long, which drains a 
larger region of country than any stream on the globe, with the exception of the 
Amazon, rises in Lake Itasca, in the northern part of Minnesota, and flows 
southeasterly through the State 797 miles, 134 of which forms its eastern boun-_ 
dary. It is navigable for large boats to St. Paul, and above the Falls of St.' 
Anthony for smaller boats for about 150 miles farther. The season of navigatioE 
has opened as early as the 25th of March, but usually opens from the first to the 
middle of A pril, and closes between the middle of November and the first of De- 
cember. In 1865 and 1866, steamboat excursions took place on the first of 
December, from St. Paul, and the river remained open several days longer ; in 
1867 until December 1st. 

The principal towns and cities on the Mississippi in Minnesota, are, Winona, 
Wabashaw, Lake City, Red Wing, Hastings, St. Paul, Minneapolis, St. Anthony, 
Anoka, Dayton, Monticello, St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Little Falls, Watab. 

The Minnesota River, the source of which is among the Coteau des Prairies, 
in Dacotah Territory, flows from Big Stone Lake, on the western boundary of the 
State, a distance of nearly 500 miles, 'through the heart of the southwestern part 
of the State, and empties into the Mississippi at Fort Snelling, 5 miles above St. 
Paul. It is navigable as high up as the Yellow Medicine, 238 miles above its 
mouth, during good stages of water. Its principal places are Shakopee, Chaska, 
<Jarver, Belle Plaine, Henderson, LeSueur, Traverse des Sioux, St. Peter, Man- 
kato and New Ulm. 

The St, Croix River, rising in Wisconsin, near Lake Superior, forms about 
130 miles of the eastern boundary of the State. It empties into the Mississippi 
nearly opposite Hastings, and is navigable to Taylor's Falls, about 50 miles. It 
penetrates the pineries and furnishes immense water power along its course. The 
principal places on it are Stillwater and Taylor's Falls. 

The Red River, rises in Lake Traverse, and flows northward, forming the 
western boundary of the State from Big Stone Lake to the British Possessions, 
a distance of 380 miles. It is navigable from Breckeuridge, at the mouth of the 
Bois de Sioux River to Hudson's Bay ; the Saskatchewan, a tributary of the 
Red River, is also said to be a navigable stream, thus promising an active com- 
mercial trade from this vast region when it shall have become settled up, via the 
St. Paul and Pacific railroad, which connects the navigable waters of the Red 
River with those of the Mississippi. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 11 

Cannon River, dividing Dakota aud Goodhue counties, it is said can be made 
a navigable stream by slack-water improvements, for which purpose a company 
with a capital of 050,000 has been formed. 

Among the more important of the numerous small streams are Rum River, 
valuable for lumbering ; Vermilion River, furnishing extensive water power and 
possessing some of the finest casades in the United States ; the Crow, Blue 
Earth, Root, Sank, Le Sueur, Zumbro, Cottonwood, Long Prairie, Red Wood, 
Waraju, Pejuta Ziza, Mauja Wakan, Buffalo, Wild Rice, Plum, Saud Hill, Clear 
Water, Red Lake, Thief, Black, Red Cedar, and Des Moines rivers ; the St. 
Louis River, a large stream flowing into l^ake Superior, navigable for twenty- 
one miles from its lake outlet, aud furnishing a water-power at its falls said to be 
equal to that of the falls of tlie Mississippi at St. Anthony, aud many others, 
besides all the innumerable hosts of first and secondary tributaries to all the 
larger streams. The sources of most of these streams being high, their descent 
is considerable, furnishing the finest system of water-powers of every grade in 
the world. Many of the brooks, with deep cut channels, are full of trout, leap 
and dance merrily over the prairies, often taking sudden leaps, forming beautiful 
and romantic cascades. One of these, on the outlet of Lake Minuetonka, haa 
been immortalized by Longfellow in Hiawatha : 
• 

" Here the Falls of Mlnne-ha-ha 
Flash and gleam among the oak trees. 
Laugh and leap into the valley." 

Lakes. — Lake Superior, the largest body of fresh water on the globe, forms a 
portion of the eastern boundary of Minnesota, giving it 167 miles of lake 
coast, with one of the best natural harbors and breakwaters, at Du Luth, Minne- 
sota, to be found on any coast. When the Superior and Mississippi railroad 
is completed, connecting the commercial centre of the State with Lake Superior, 
a large lake commerce will spring into existence. 

Besides, the whole surface of the State is literally begemmed with iunuumerar 
ble lakes, estimated by Schoolcraft at 10,000 They are of all sizes, from 500 
yards in diameter to 10 miles. Their picturesque beauty and loveliness, with 
their pebbly bottoms, transparent waters, wooded shores and sylvan associations, 
must be seen to be fully appreciated. They all abound in fish, black and rock 
bass, pickerel, pike, perch, cat, sunfish, &c., of superior quality and flavor ; and 
in the spring and fall they are the haunts of innumerable duck, geese, and other 
wild fowl. In some places they are solitary, at others found in groups or chains. 
Many are without outlets, others give rise to meanderirg aud meadow-bordered 
brooks. These lakes act as reservoirs for water, penetrating the soil and by 
their exhalations giving rise to summer showers during dry weather. Prof. 
Maury says of Minnesota, that although far from the sea, " it may be considered 
the best watered State in the Union, aud it doubtless* owes its abundance of 
summer rains measurably to this lake system." 

Forests. — Among those unacquainted with the State, Minnesota is apt to be 
regarded as a prairie country, destitute of timber. On the contrary, there is no 
Western State better supplied with forests. 

In the northreu part of the State is an immense forest region estimated to 
cover upwards of 21,000 square miles, constituting one of the great sources of 
health and industry of the State. The prevailing wood of this region is pine, 
with a considerable proportion of ash, birch, maple, elm, poplar, &c. West of 
the Mississippi, lying between it and the Minnesota, and extending south of that 
stream, is the Big .Woods, about 100 miles in length aud 40 miles wide. This 
district is full of lakes, and broken by small openings. The prevailing woods 
are oak, maple, elm, ash, basswood, butternut, black walnut and hickory. Be- 
sides these two large forests, nearly all the streams are friuged with woodland, 
and dense forests of considerable extent cover the valleys. The extensive bot- 
toms of the Mississippi, Minnesota and Blue Earth are covered with a heavy 
growth of white and black walnut, maple, boxwood, hickory, linden aud cottoa- 
wood. The valleys of the Zumbro and Root rivers support large tracts of for- 



12 MINNESOTA : 

estfi growth. 'ITiey are found more or less in Wabasbaw, Dodge, Steele, Fill- 
more, Mower, Freeborn and Olmsted and contiguous counties. 

But the oak openings, distributed in groves and large parks through the up- 
lands along the margins of the numerous streams, form a large resource of the 
prairie population for domestic and mechanical purposes. Towards the western 
boundary of the State the timber becomes more scanty, and it assumes more the 
character of a vast prairie region, dotted here and there with groves and belts 
of timber, fringing the Red River and the minor streams. The choice timbered 
lands and oak openings will be first selected by the settler, and the treeless prai- 
ries of the western frontier will be covered with timber in a few years, as soon 
as the annual scourge of the prairie fire is checked. Wherever these fires are 
arrested the land is soon covered by a dense growth of timber. 

THE PINERIES AI^D LUMBERIN^G IN^TEREST. 

The vast pine forests cover the northern part of the State, extending from 
Lake Superior to the outlet of Red Lake, and extending as far south as latitude 
46° in Anoka county. The principal pineries where lumber is obtained are sit- 
uated upon the headwaters of the Upper Mississippi,«aad those of the St. Croix, 
Kettle, Snake, Rum, Crow Wing and Otter Tail rivers. The logs are^ut in the 
dead of winter, and when the ground is covered with snow are conveyed to the 
streams, down which they are floated in the spring when the snow and ice melts. 
These pine forests being almost inexhaustible, constitute a vast source of wealth 
for generations to come. They give employment to a large number of lumber- 
men, who constitute a hardy class of industry as distinct as that of railroad or 
eteamboatmen. 

In 1861, the exports of lumber from this State were about 30,000,000 feet. 
This trade is constantly increasing ; in 186.5 upwards of 83,000,000 feet were 
manufactured at St. Anthony and St. Croix Falls, besides 15, .500,000 shingles, 
and 16,.5OO,O0O laths. The products of 111,000,000 logs, of an aggregate value 
of $1,662,810 were exported. In 1866, the amount of logs and lumber cut and 
manufactured was about 175,000,000 feet ; in 1867, about 276,000,000 feet. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

Copper and Iron. — The mineral deposits of Minnesota are another important 
source of wealth. In the northern part of the State copper and iron ore of 
superior quality are found. The copper mines are situated on the northern shore 
of Lake Superior, and are rich and extensive. Very pure specimens of copper 
ore have also been obtained from Stuart and Knife rivers. Thick deposits of 
iron ore are found on Portage and Pigeon rivers, said to be equal in tenacity 
and malleability to the best Swedish and Russia iron. 

Coal — Deposits of coal have been discovered on the Big Cottonwood river, 
a tributary of the Minnesota, and indications of it have been observed in other 
localities. A company has been formed to work the Cottonwood veins, and 
some geologists are confident that rich beds will yet be developed. We are not 
dependent upon this source, however ; our proximity to the immense coal fields 
of Iowa, connected by railroads now under construction ; and our own inex- 
haustible deposits of peat, proved by experiments referred to under the head 
of " Peat for fuel," to be almost equal to coal, will afford us for the future an 
ample and cheap supply of fuel for domestic and manuJ"acturing purposes. 

The Precious Metals. — " A geological survey, made under the auspices of 
the State in the summer of 1865, developed the existence of the precious metals 
on the shores of Vermilion Lake, 80 miles north of the head of Lake Superior. 
Scientific analysis attested the presence of gold and silver, in the quartz surface 
rock, in sufficient quantities to warrant the employment of labor and capital in 
their extraction, for which object a number of joint stock companies have been 
formed and a considerable number of enterprising persons provided with neces- 
sary appliances for mining, have repaired to that place in search of gold. There 
ie good reason to believe the search will be successful." — H. C. Rogers, Com- 
missioner of Emigration. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 13 

But the richest mines of wealth beloagiug to any State is a productive soil, 
and in this Minnesota is unequiilled. Th^re is a mine of gold on every farm of 
160 acres, and it requires no capital to work it except industry. 

Granite. — A fine bed of granite, equal to the bestQuincy granite for building 
purposes, crops out at Sauk Rapids . 

Limestone of fine quality for building purposes is found in many portions of 
the State, (in fact nearly all over it,) and affords ample material lor the manufac- 
ture of lime. 

Sandstone exists at Fort Suelling, Mendota, and other points in inexhaustible 
quantities. A fine white sand for the manufacture of flint glass abounds near 
St. Paul, said to be equal to any in the world. An extensive quarry of slate 
stone is found on the Saint Louis River, and probably exists at other* points, A 
kind of blue clay, underlying the soil in a large part of the State makes brick of 
a good quality. White marl occurs in large beds at Minneapolis, St^ Anthony 
and other places ; it is used for pottery manufacturing, and also makes a hard 
durable brick similar to the famous " Milwaukee brick." In Wabashaw county 
a bed of the finest porcelain clay has been found. 

Salt Springs. — Numerous very pure salt springs, yielding upwards of a 
bushel of salt to every twenty-four gallons of water, abound in the Red River 
valley The north )yest, which consumes vast quantities of salt for pork and beef 
packing, and other purposes, will eventually be supplied from this source. The 
value of this source of wealth may be estimated from the fact that two million 
bushels are annually imported into Chicago alone, from New York and Penn- 
sylvania. 

Tripoli. — An inexhaustible bed of the purest Tripoli, requiring, according to 
Prof. Shepard, no preparation to be fit at once for use and commerce, has been 
discovered near Stillwater. It is twenty feet thick and at least a half mile long. 

" The use of Tripolis in the arts is very great. Wlierever a high polish is 
required, whether upon metal, stone, glass, or even wood, their employment is 
perfectly indispensable, and in very considerable quantities. The consumption 
is constantly increasing ; and the demand for the article, is destined to know no 
limit." — Report of Prof. Shepard. 

Tripoli is a deposit of the silicified remains of animalcules, and contains from 
66 to 90 per cent, of silex ; that discovered in Minnesota contains 77.7 per cent, 
of silex, the remainder being principally lime, iron, and alumina. As the known 
deposits of this earth are rather limited, and the imported article, in no way 
superior to that of Minnesota, commands from 25 to 30 cents per pound in New 
York, at wholesale, this discovery will increase in importance every year. A 
comprmy for the purpose of mining Tripoli and preparmg it for commerce la 
now in successful operation. 

PEAT FOR FUEL. 

In a northern country a ready and cheap supply of fuel is of the first impor- 
tance. If any have imagined Minnesota to be a cold, timberless region, let them 
be at once undeceived. Our pineries are sufficient to supply the whole couatcy 
with lumber, while throughout the State, the proportion of timbered lan(js and 
prairies is about what it should be to ma,ke it a good farming and stock growing 
country. Besides nature has made up whatever deficiency there may be of wood 
and coal with immense and inexhaustible deposits of Peat, a cheap and excel- 
lent stihstitute for both, for ordinary use and manufacturing purposes.. Peat ia a 
deposit of vegetable matter, principally from a kind of moss, which has collected 
for ages in fens and bogs. Vast beds of this material, from twenty to fifty feet 
deep exists all over the State, requiring only to be cut out in square lumps with 
a light spade and dried, It burns slowly, and gives off a great quantity of heat. 
It is identical with the "turf" taken from the peat bogs of Ireland and Scot- 
land, and so extensively used in those countries. For ordinary heating and 
cooking purposes, it is simply cut out in brick-shaped pieces, of any size desired, 
and spread around to dry. When dried, it is carted and piled up under a shed 
80 as to keep dry for use. 



14 MINNESOTA : 

Peat is compressed by machinery lately invented for that purpose, until almost 
as solid as stouecoal and nearly equal to it for heating purposes, and superior to 
■wood. Peat is now used instead of wood or coal on the Grand Trunk and 
Great Western Railroads of Canada. By a test of the heating properties of peat 
as compared wita coal and wood made by the Boston and Worcester Railroad, in 
August, 1866, it was demonstrated that 3j tons of peat at $4.50, per ton, 
■worth $15.75, was equal to 4.41 cords of wood, worth $30.87 at $1 per cord, and 
to 2.95 tons coal, worth S29.50 at SlO per ton. A company was incorporated in 
St. Paul during the summer of 1867 for the manufacture of peat. They have 
brought on raachiueiy for that purpose and are now in full blast on one of the 
large peat beds near the city. They assure us that they can furnish peat at $3 
per ton, each ton being equal to IJ cords wood. 

MINNESOTA AS A STOCK-GROWING STATE. 

For raising cattle and horses, Minnesota is fully equal to Illinois ; and for 
sheep growing it is far superior. According to established laws of nature cold 
climates require a large quantity and finer quality of wool or fur than warm 
ones, hence the fur and wool bearing animals are. found in perfection only in 
northern regions. The thick coat of the sheep especially identifies it with a 
oold country ; the excessive heat to which their wool subjects them in a warm 
climate generates disease. The fleece of Minnesota sheep is remarkably fine and 
heavy, and they are not subject to the rot and other diseases so disastrous to 
sheep in warm and moist localities. It is asserted by stock growers that sheep 
brought here while suffering with the rot speedily become healthy, and the 
same has been said of horses with heaves and shortness of breath. The sleek 
and velvety appearance of horses here in summer time gives them the appear- 
ance of highly kept stftllions. The cattle raised here are also remarkably 
healthy, the unanimous testimony of butchers being that they seldom meet with 
a diseased liver. . 

Our fine, rich upland meadows afford excellent facilities for grazing purposes; 
and hay in abundance for keeping stock during the winter may be had for the 
reaping. The characteristic perfection and nutritious qualities of the grasses in 
this State enables the farmer to keep his horses and cattle fat on it all winter 
■without grain. The valleys and margins of the numerous streams and lakes, 
found on almost every farm, furnish an abundance of a coarser grass than that 
obtained from the upland meadows ; this is generally fed to cattle, which are 
very fond of it both in its green and cured state. 

Although the winters in Minnesota are apparently longer, the actual' number 
•of days during which stock has to be fed here is no more than in Ohio and 
Southern Illinois. 

Hogs also do extremely well here, and the abundance and certainty of the 
grain crop enables farmers to raise them as cheaply as elsewhere. 

All stock requires shelter during the winter in this climate, but the necessity is 
no greater than in Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. The washing, chilling and debil- 
itating winter rains of those States are far more iujurioas to out stock thau 
our severest cold. All the shelter which stock requires here is that readily 
furnished by the immense sti'aw piles which accumulate from the threshing of 
the annual grain crop. A frame-work of rails or poles is made, and the straw 
thrown over it, leaving the south side open. Under this cattle stand, feed on the 
straw in perfect security from the inclemencies of the severest winter. 

SOCIAL STATUS. 

The condition of society in all newly settled countries is a subject of 
interest to the settler. As a general thing the social status, in point of educa- 
tion, morals and refinement, is inferior to that of the older States. But in Min- 
nesota, although outside the capital and its other principal cities we do notboaat 
much artificial refinement, the morals of the community, as shown by our crim- 
inal statistics, are at least equal to those of the model States of New-England. 

The society throughout the State is good ; no prim and retired New-England 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 15 

village could outvie our young and thriving cities with their cleanly, decorou& 
and whitewashed appearance. The population is composed mainly of American,. 
Irish and Germans, but almost every nationality is represented. Most of the 
settlers are plain, honest, industrious farmers, attracted to our State by the salu- 
brity of its climate, and the productiveness and cheapness of its lands. A large 
proportion of the population is made up of the best classes from the older States, 
North and South, who have come to reap the advantages of our fine climate, or 
to invest their means in property in our fine agricultural districts and in our rap- 
idly growing towns, where immense fortunes have been realized by their rapid 
and solid growth. 

We rarely see here any of that ruffianism and lawlessness which in most new 
States renders them unpleasant as a permanent residence. It would be as diffi- 
cult to find a township without its " meeting house " and school house as in Ohio 
or Pennsylvania. The various religious denominations are proportioned among 
the population in about the same ratio as in the older States. 

The following table, from the Bureau of Statistics, exhibits the ratio of crime 
in several States as compared with Minnesota : 



State. 


No. of Indictments. 


No. of Convictions. 


Ratio of Convictions, 


Ohio, 


3,571 


1,234 


1 in 1,950 


Massachusetts, 


- 4,248 


1.295 


1 in 841 


New-York, 





1,842 


1 in 1,900 


Minnesota, - 


- 122 


44 


1 in 3,854 



" The comparison is remarkably favorable to Minnesota, but might have been 
expected in a population chiefly agricultural." 

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 

Minnesota took the subject of education in hand at an early stage of her set- 
tlement, and she may now justly boa?t of possessing the most munificent endow- 
ment for educational purposes of any State in the Uoion. Two sections of land, 
1,280 acres, in every township, are set apart for sale or lease in aid of common 
schools, amounting in all to three million acres. 

Governor Marshall in his message to the Legislature, January 10, 1868, upon 
this subject, says : 

'•The additions to the permanent school fund last year were $253,871.44. 
The fund now amounts to $L587,210.78 ; 246,126 acres of lands had been sold 
up to the close of the last fiscal year. The school lands of the State, when all 
the public lands are surveyed, will amount to about 3,000,000 acres. The fund 
ultimately to be derived from these lauds will, with a continuance of the present 
prudent and successful management, amount to fifteen million dollars — exceeding 
the united school funds of Massachusetts, New York and Ohio. There is no- 
thing in the past history or future prospects of the State for which we have so 
much reason to rejoice and be thaukfal, as for this unequaled endowment of 
common schools — this munificent provision to endure through all coming time 
for the free education for every child of the State." 

The following facts taken from the very able report of Hon. M. H. Bunnell, 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, show how this fund is now used : 

" The increase during the year in number of organized school districts is 209 ; 
the total number of districts being 2,207. The number of districts not report- 
ing in 1867, is 172, being. 45 less than failed to report in 1866. The whole 
number of children between the ages of five and twenty-one years, as returned, is 
114,421, being an increase of 12,303 on the number in 1866. The Superinten- 
dent estimates that the number of children not returned would make the total 
number of the State 125,000. The whole number attending school in 1867 
was 65,807, an increase of 13,054 on the number .the year before. The whole 
number of teachers employed in 1867, was 2,585, being an increase of 428. The 
Bum paid teachers in 1867, was $254,986, an increase of $85,840. The value 
of school houses in 1867, was $746,291. The number of school houses built in 



16 MINNESOTA: 

1867 was 337, costing $331,219. Owing to the imperfect returns, these figures 
fall short of the facts." 

Another land grant of 46,080 acres has been made for the endowment of a 
State University. It has been located at St. Anthony and a fine stone edifice 
erected for this purpose. Some pecuniary difiiculties formerly surrounded the 
Board of Regents, but they are now settled, and the school is in operation, 
affording facilities for every youth in the State to obtain a free collegiate educa- 
tion. No State in the Union has ever equaled this, if we consider the age, pop- 
ulation and wealth of Minnesota 

Private enterprise has also located many excellent private schools, classical 
and commercial, and seminaries in different portions of the State, thus affording 
educational facilities equal to those of the older States. The Baptists have a 
University at Hastings and the Methodists have one at Red "Wing. The St. Paul 
Female Seminary at St Paul, under the superintendence of Rev. J. G. Riheldaffer, 
and Bishop Seabury's Mission at Fairbault, under the patronage of the Episco- 
palians, and embracing a preparatory and collegiate department, are all institu- 
tions of a high order of merit 

Bryant, Strattou & Pirkey's Commercial College at St Paul is equal to any 
of the links in this great chain of business colleges, also a Commercial College 
at Minneapolis. 

There is also an excellent State Normal School for the training of teachers in 
practical operation at Winona. In addition the State has a Congressional grant 
of 120,000 acres of land for the establishment of a first class Agricultural 
College which is to be erected at Glencoe, and put in operation in a short time. 

An excellent Female Seminary, under the auspices of the Catholics, and con- 
dueted by the "Sisters of St Joseph," in operation at St. Paul. 

And a College has been opened at Northfield under the auspices of the Con- 
gi-egationalists. A Female Seminary at Rochester, and Pike's Normal School, 
in the same city. 

CHAJRITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 

Minnesota, although as vet too young to have a system of the noble public 
charities perfected, her wants in this line are provided for as soon as felt An 
Asylum for the deaf, dumb and blind is in operation at Faribault ; ample land 
grants have been made for the ei-ection of an Insane Asylum, as well as for the 
support and education of the orphans of soldiers who fell in the late war. The 
Insane Asylum has been located at St. Peter, and is now in practical operation, 
and contains about 100 patients at this time. A State Reform School has been 
located at St Paul, and is now in operation. There are two Orphan Asylums 
in St Paul, one under the auspices of the Protestants, the other of the Cath- 
olics. 

BANKS. 

The State has fifteen National Banks, with an aggregate paid up capital of 
nearly two millions, located as follows : 

St. Paul, 3, Capital. $900,000 

Minneapolis, 3, " 200,000 

Winona, 2, " 100,000 

Hastings, 2, " 200,000 

Red Wing, 1, " 50,000 

Rochester, 1, " , 50,000 

Shakopee, 1, " 50,000 

NewUlm, 1, " 50,000 

Stillwater, 1, " . 50,000 

These, with numerous private backs located at the principal manufacturing 
and commercial centres, afford ample conveniences for the transaction of busi- 
ness. More banking capita],. however, is needed to facilitate the rapidly increas- 
ing business of the State, and more than double the present amount would find 
active, safe and profitable employment 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 17 

EIVER TRADE — STEAMBOATS Ali'D BARGES. 

The steamboat business of Minnesota is as yet confined to the Mississippi, 
'tke Minnesota and the St. Croix rivers. On the Mississippi the business is 
principally done by the " North Western Union Packet Company," although a 
large number of independent or " wild " boats, as they are called, engage in 
our trade. 

The North Western Union Packet Company, being a union of the " Davidsoa 
Line " and the Minnesota Packet Company, has within a few years grown to a 
large and influential company, starting, it is said with a " Line " consisting of one 
boat, they now own eleven first class packets, nineteen stern wheel steamers, 
together with one hundred and thirty-one barges, and employ over 2000 men. 
The capital stock of this company is $1,500,000. Their boats ply between Du- 
buque and St. Paul, and LaCrosse and St. Paul ; two boats leaving St. Paul 
daily, connecting with the 111. Central R R. at Dubuque, Milwaukee R.R. at 
Prairie du Chien and LaCrosse. This line also has boats on the St. Croix, one 
boat daily to Taylor's Falls, and on the Minnesota a daily packet besides several 
freighters. 

The Northern Line boats ply between St. Louis smd St. Paul, and consist of 
nine first-class side-wheel packets, eight stern-wheel steamers, and sixty barges, 
— a boat leaving St. Louis and St. Paul daily. I am unable to give statements 
of the boats and arrangements of the Savannah Packet Company, plying be- 
tween Savannah and St. Paul. 

The Collector of Customs at the Port of St. Paul, gives the aggregate ton- 
nage of that port for 1867, at 13,308 22 tons, which falls far short of the 
actual amount, because of a large number of the boats being registered at Du- 
buque and Galena. Were the boats and barges plying to the Port of St. Paul 
all registered there, the tonnage would double the amount given above. 

THE RALLROAD SYSTEM OF MLNTOiSOTA. 

In 1857, Congress made a land grant of four and a half million acres to Min- 
nesota for railroad purposes. In 1864, an additional grant was made. 

These acts grant ten sections, or 6,400 acres of land for each mile of road to 
be built under it, and projected the great lines which were intended to benefit all 
parts of the State, and provide for its increasing demands. These Hues are as 
follows : 

STILLWATER AND ST. PAUL R. R. CO. 

1st. — A line from Stillwater to St. Paul, 18 miles in length. It has been 
located, and the franchises of the company and its land grant are in the hands of 
the business men of Stillwater, who are directly interested in the early comple- 
tion of the road. 

When finished it will bring to St. Paul the heavy lumber trade of the St. 
Croix Valley; and will materially assist in the development of a rich agricultural 
region. 

THE- FIRST DIVISION OF THE|sT. PAUL AND PACIFIC R. R. CO. 

2d.— From St. Paul, via St. Anthony and Minneapolis, to a point on the 
western boundary of the State, near or at Big Stone Lake, with a branch from 
St Anthony to Watab. The main line, from St. Paul to the western boundary 
of the State, is 200 miles in length. It has been located the whole distance ; 
twenty-five miles of the road is iu operation, fifteen miles more is graded and 
ready for the iron, and the company expect to complete it to the centre of 
Meeker County, through the " Big Woods," a distance of 70 miles from St. Paul, 
before the close of the year 1868. An expensive bridge over the Mississippi, 
just above the Falls of St. Anthony, has been completed the past year, and. is 
now in constant use. 

The branch line from St. Anthony up the valley of the Mississippi, is com- 
pleted to Sauk Rapids, a distance of 65 miles, and is now in operation. ' The 
remaining section of the branch line will be finished as soon as the business of 
the country will justify. 



18 MINNESOTA : 

THE ST, PAUL Am) PACIFIC R. R. CO. 

3d.— Aline from Watab, where it connects with the First Division of the St^ 
Paul and Pacific Rail Road, via Crow Wing, to Pembina, on the great Red 
River of the North, about 320 miles in length, with a branch from some point 
between St. Cloud and Crow Wing to Lake Superior, a distance of 120 miles. 

The line from Watab to Crow Wing has been located, but is not yet in course 
of construction. Operations have not commenced on the Lake Superior branch. 

THE MINNESOTA VALLEY R. R. CO. 

4th.— A line from St. Paul, up the valley of the Minnesota, to Mankato, 
thence in a southwesterly direction to the Iowa State line ; there to meet a road 
from Sioux City, Iowa, to the Minnesota State line. Sioux City is the north- 
eastern terminus of a branch of the Central or Union Pacific Rail Road. 

The distance from St. Paul to Iowa State line is 170 miles ; from thence to 
Sioux City 70 miles. 

The road is completed and in operation from St. Paul to Le Sueur, 62 miles, 
and will be completed to Mankato, 90 miles from St. Paul, during the year 1868. 

THE MILWAUKEE AND ST. PAUL RAILWAY CO. 

5th. — A line from St, Paul and Minneapolis (junction at Mendota) via Fari- 
bault and Owatouna, to the north line of the State of Iowa. This line runs 
almost due north and south; it intersects the Winona and St, Peter Rail Road 
at Owatonna; is about 110 miles long, and connects with the Iowa Division of 
the same company, which is complete to McGregor, on the Mississippi, opposite 
Prairie du Chien, 

This line furnishes an all rail connection East and South, and is now in oper- 
ation its whole-length. 

LAKE SUPERIOR AND MISSISSIPPI R. R. CO. 

gt]i. — X line from St. Paul, which is the head of navigation on the Mississippi 
river, to the head of Lake Superior in Minnesota, with authority to connect 
with a branch to Superior City, Wisconsin. The distance to the navigable 
waters of Lake Superior is 133 miles ; to the head of Lake Superior, 150 milea. 
This line is controlled by the Lake Superior and Mississippi R. R. Co. It has 
been graded about 30 miles from St. Paul, and will be pushed to completion the 
entire distance within two years, or before 1870. This road has also a grant 
of seven sections to the mile of State lauds in addition to those named. 

THE HASTINGS AND DAKOTA R. B. CO. 

7th.— A line from Hastings, through the counties of Dakota, Scott, Carver, and 
McLeod, to the foot of Big Stone Lake. 

Operations have been commenced on this road; a considerable amount o^ 
grading has been done, and the line will probably be finished to Farmington, 
where it intersects the Milwaukee and St. Paul Road, a distance of 22 miles, 
during the present year. It is an east and west line across the State. 

THE WINONA AND ST. PETER R. R. CO. 

8th.— Aline from Winona, via St. Peter, to the western boundary of the State. 

This line extends east and west across the entire State. It is completed to 
Waseca, 105 miles west of Winona, and will be finished to the Minnesota River, 
140 miles, by the close of 1868, When completed, the line will be 250 miles 
lorg. It intersects the Milwaukee and St, Paul Railway at Owatonna, 

THE SOUTHERN MINNESOTA R. R. CO. 

9th. — A line from La Crescent up the valley of the Root River, through the 
counties of Houston, Fillmore, Mower, Freeborn, Faribault, Martin, Jackson, 
Noble, and Rock, to the western boundary of the State. 

This line is controlled by the Southern ^Minnesota R. R. Co., is completed to 
Rushford, Fillmore county, about 30 miles west of the Mississippi, and is being 
energetically pushed forward. It crosses the entire State, from east to west, 
through the southern tier of counties, and is upwards of 250 miles long. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 19 



THE NORTHERN PACIFIC R. R. CO. 

10th, — During the past year several corps of engineers have been engaged in 
locating the line of this road across the State of Minnesota, 

Two lines have been run: one commencing at Bayfield, on Lake Superior, 
passing about 10 miles south of Superior City, and thence via St. Cloud, up the 
valley of Sauk River to Breckeuridge, on the Red River of the North. The 
other, commencing at Superior City, passes almost due west, crossing the Miss- 
issippi 10 or 12 miles above Crow Wing, and thence to Breckeuridge, on Red 
River. 

It is not yet known which line will be adopted; but either will cross the State 
from east to west, and will add immensely to the development of Northern Min- 
nesota. 

All the roads named have been endowed by Congress with land grants of ten 
sections or 6,400 acres per mile, with the exception of the Northern Pacific 
which has a grant of twenty sections or 12,800 acres per mile. 

THE CHICAGO AND ST. PAUL RAILWAY CO. 

11th. — In addition to the lines named above, the St. Paul and Chicago Rail- 
way Company has been authorized to construct a road along the Mississippi 
-River from St. Paul to the southern boundary of the State, and has been 
endowed with a valuable grant of State lands, amounting to fourteen sections or 
nearly 10,000 acres of land per mile. The line has been surveyed as far as 
Winona, a distance of 100 miles. A large force is now engaged in construction, 
and the company is determined to build and equip the road with the least 
possible delay. 

* SUMMARY. 

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this system of railroads to 
the present and future population of the State. The construction of these lines 
now in active progress gives employment to vast numbers of men, and gives as- 
surance that every part of the State in the near future will enjoy the benefits of 
a cheap and speedy transportation of passengers and products to and fro. And 
when completed, the system will give to the whole State every advantage, so far 
as markets are concerned, which now belongs to the favored State of Illinois. 

These lines, covering over 2,000 miles wholly within the limits of the State, 
are rapidly opening up some of the best lands in the world, by bringing them 
within easy reach of good markets. The different railroad companies are pur- 
suing a liberal policy towards immigrants offering them inducements as to price 
and time of payments, seeing that their own prosperity is identical with that of the 
State, St. Paul may be said to form the heart or centre of this net-work of the 
"arteries of trade." 

The great facility which Minnesota possesses of sending her produce to mar- 
ket is not the least of her many advantages. The richest lands and the finest 
climate in the world are useless in a commercial point of view if , not connected 
with the great trading emporiums by wide and accessible channels of trade. The 
broad bosom of the Mississippi sweeps our commerce to the Gulf of Mexico, 
and brings back the cotton of the South to be manufactured by our numberless 
water-powers ; our railroads open another channel to the Atlantic coast ; while by 
way of lake navigation, via Lake Superior and the great Pacific Railroad, con- 
necting us with both the Atlantic and Pacific, afford ample and unequalled com- 
mercial facilities. 

Navigation on Lake Superior opens the last of April and closes about the Ist 
of December. In previous years propellers have left Buffalo as late as the 10th 
of December, in 1861 as late as the 21st. 

"The navigation of Lake Superior, contrary to the general o^ion, is much 
safer than that of the lower lakes. Its waters, being deeper, make easier seas, and 
it is navigable as many days in the year as any of them. * * * * 
It has been predicted by thinking men, who understand the subject, that when 
steam communication shall have been effected across the continent from the 
Pacific to the Atlantic, a"change must take place in the courses of the commerce 



20 MINNESOTA : 

between the East aad the "West. When you can laj- down in Loudon and Hamburg 
cargoes of tea, silks, &c., from China, withia fifty to sisty days after their ship- 
ment from there, then the old courses of trade by the way of the Cape of Good 
Hope will have to be abandoned — then the commercial sceptre will depart from 
England and pass into our keeping. This all seems as sure as anything in the 
future can be." — Report of the Buffalo Board of Trade, for 1866. 

MANUFACTURING FACILITIES. 

Extract from the Second Eeport.of J. A. Wheelock, State Commissioner of 
Statistics: — 

"Apart from social causes and the general influence of the stimulating aad 
exacting climates of the North, in developing the forms of skilled industry, it is 
owing chiefly to two physical circumstances that New-England has attained her ; 
present eminence in manufactures, in spite of her deficiency in the useful minerals 
and the raw material employed in the arts. These are, first, her abundant water 
power ; and, second, her favorable commercial position which has enabled her to 
obtain ready supplies of raw material from abroad and to distribute the product 
through a wide range of dependent markets. These circumstances alone among 
the physical conditions of manufacturing power, have raised the little State of 
Massachusett-s, without internal resources of raw material, without coal or iron, to 
the first rank among American States in the manufacture especially of textile 
fabrics. And these purely physical conditions of industrial developemeot exi.st iu 
Minnesota in a greater degree than in New-England, and in addition she possesses 
to a large extent essential elements of raw material of which New-England is 
destitute. 

" 1. Minnesota possesses a more ample and effective water power than New- 
England. The falls and rapids of St. Anthony alone, with a total descent of 64 
feet, afibrds an available hydraulic capacity, according to an experienced and 
competent engineer, of 120,000 horse power„ This is considerably greater than 
•the whole motive power — steam and water— employed iu textile manufactures 
in England in 1850, and nearly seven times as great as the water power so 
employed. 

" That is to say, the available power created by this magnificent waterfall, is 
more than sufficient to drive all the 25,000,000 spindles aiJd 4,000 mills of England 
and Scotland combined. The entire machinery of the English Manchester and 
the American Lowell, if they could be transplanted here, would scarcely press 
upon its immense hydraulic capabilities. But as compared with those great 
industrial centres, the Falls of St. Anthony possess one decisive advantage, which 
is to a great extent illustrative of the functions of the State as a commercial and 
manufacturing emporium, this splendid cataract forms the terminus of continuous 
navigation on the Mississippi ; and the same waters which lavish on the broken 
ledges of limestone a strength almost sufficient to weave the garments of the 
world, may gather the products of its mills almost at their very doors and distribute 
them to every part of the great valley of the Mississippi. 

There are now at the Falls of St"! Anthony thirteen grist mills, fourteen saw 
mills, two woolen mills, two paper mills, one oil mill. These, with minor 
establishments there, produced in 1867, $4,669,358 worth of manufactured 
articles. 

" The St Croix Falls, which are only second to St. Anthony Falls in hydraulic 
power, are similarly, though somewhat less advantageously situated at the head 
of navigation upon a tributary ot the Mississippi. Except the Minnesota, nearly 
every tributary of the Mississippi, in its rapid and broken descent to the main 
stream, aftords valuable mill sites. The Mississippi itself in its descent from its 
Itasca summit to Fort Snelling, in which it falls 836 feet, or over 16 inches per 
mile, is characterized by long steps of slack water, broken at long intervals by 
abrupt transitions in the character of the rocks which forms its bed, and forming a 
fine series of falls and rapids available for hydraulic works. Pokegoma Falls, 
Little Falls, Sauk Rapids, and St. Anthony Falls, are the chief of these. But the 
Elk, Rum, St. Croix, and numberless smaller streams on the east slope of the 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 21 

Mississispi, the Sauk, Crow, Vermillion, Cannou, Zumbro, Minneiska, Root, and 
their branches, nearly all the tributaries of the Minnesota, and a multitude of 
streams besides, in their abrupt descent over broken beds of limestone or sand- 
stone, through long and winding valleys or ravines, with a fall of from three to ■ 
eight feet per mile, aiford an unlimited abundance of available water, power to 
nearly every county in the State. This diffusion of hydraulic power throughout 
the whole State, is a feature whose value as an element of developement, can 
scarcely be over estimated, as it gives to every neighborhood the means of 
manufacturing . its own flour and lumber, and affords the basis of all those 
numerous local manufactures which enter into the industrial economy of every 
northern community. • 

;'2. Passing to the second point of comparison with New-England, already 
incidentally touched upon, the commercial position of Minnesota upon the termini 
of the three great water lines of the continent, not only gives it an immensely 
wider capacity of interior trade, but a far easier access to the screes of supply 
of raw material. A region six times as large as all New- England, as yet 
undeveloped, but already starting on the swift career of Western growth, and 
capable of supporting many millions of population, is directly dependent upon 
JMinnesota for all the manufactured commodities it may consume. Its position 
relative to these Northwestern valleys, invests its manufacturing capabilities with 
an importance greater than those of any other of the interior districts of the con- 
tinent. For the future manufacture of cotton and woolen fabrics, it has decided 
advantages of position over New-England. The Mississippi river brings it into 
intimate relations with the sources of the cotton supply, and it lies in the midst 
of the great wool zone of the continent." 

The falls of the St Louis river, at the point where the Lake Superior and. 
Mississippi R. R. reaches the uavagable waters of Lake Superior, said to furnish 
a manufacturing power equal to that of the falls of the Mississippi river at St. 
Anthony, must not be omitted from the above list. 

Minnesota is evidently destined to become one of the greatest manufacturing 
States in the world, and already manufactories are springing up everywhere. 
There were five hundred and eleven establishments in 1860, with an aggregate 
capital of two and a half millions, producing annually four and a half million 
dollars worth of manufactures. The present number of establishments is esti- 
mated at two«thousau(l, with a capital often millions. 

Minnesota has the further advantage of possessing the raw material for a 
large class of manufactures, — copper, iron, wool, lumber, salt springs, sand for 
flint glass, &c., as already referred to, also coal and peat. 

AGRICULTURAL CAPACITY — THE SOIL AKD ITS 
PRODUCTS. 

Not only are the manufacturing facilities of Minnesota, equal to any in the 
world, but its agricultural capacities are unsurpassed by the finest agricultural 
districts of the old States. This combination of agriculture and manufacture is 
something very unusual ; generally "where one feature is present, the other is ab- 
sent ; but here, both features exist with all their advantages. Persons residing 
in the Middle and Western States too often regard Minnesota as an inhospita- 
ble region, too cold for agricutural pursuits. But such will learn with surprise 
that few of the most productive districts in the world can compete with Minne- 
sota. 

Soils. — "The prevailing soil of Minnesota is a dark, calcareous, sandy loam, 
containing a various intermixture of clay, abounding in mineral salts and in or- 
ganic ingredients, derived from the accumulation of decomposed vegetable mat- 
ter for long ages of growth and decay. The sand of which silica is the base, 
forms a large proportion of this, as of all good soils. It plays an important part 
in the economy of growth, aT?d is an essential constituent in the organism of 
all cereals. About sixty-seven per cent, of the ash of the stems of wheat, corn, ^ 
rye, barley, oats and sugar-cane, is pure silica, or flint. ' It is this which gives 
the glazed coating to the plants, and^gives strength to the ?talk. 



22 MINNESOTA : 

"The superiority of saud in giving a high temperature to the soil, is a great 
advantage in a climate in which t£e limited period of vegetation requires the 
highest measures of heat." 

This species of soil, on account of its penetrability to a great distance, by the 
roots of plants, enables them to gather nutiimeut at a greater distance from 
the stalk. It is porous, and permits free respiration of the soil, — as important 
to plants as animals. Owing to capilary attraction, it easily imbibes moisture 
from the air, and retains it a long time, enabling it to support vegetation during 
di'ouths, that in less favored localities prove disastrous to crops. The same 
quality prevents it from becoming supersaturated with water during wet seasons, 
on account of the facility with which it drains. 

Ther* is also this further advantage of sandy soils, that the roads are smooth 
and hard, easily made and kept in order, and are free from mire and mud, thus 
facilitating travel, hauling, &c., as well as farm labor generally. 

"Another important feature of the soil of Minnesota is, that its earthy mate- 
rials are minutely pulverized, and the soil is everywhere light, mellow and 
spongy, existing naturally in the condition reached in soils less favorably con- 
stituted, by expensive under-drainage. With these uniform characteristics, the 
soils of Minnesota are of different grades of fertility, according to local situa- 
tions, or the character of the underlying rocks from which their elements have 
been derived. Distributed according to geological situations, the soils of the 
agricultural district of Minnesota may be divided into limestone soils, drift soils, 
clay soils, and trap soils." 

Prodticts of the Soil.— The following table shows the staple agricultural pro- 
ducts of Minnesota, and about the average yield per acre : — 
Crops. Av. No. bushels per acre. Crops. Av. No. bushels per aere. 

Wheat, .... 22.05 " Sweet potatoes, - - - 150.00 
Rye, .... 21.56 Beans, - - - - Ig.QO 

Barley, .... 33.23 Hemp lint, (pounds,) - - 1,140.00 

Oats, .... 42.39 Flax lint, " - 750.00 

Buckwheat, - - - 20.00 Sorghum, (gallons syi'up) 100.00 

Corn, .... 35.67 Hay, (tons) - - - 2.12 

Potatoes, .... 208.00 

The above table is compiled from the census of 1860, and various other 
sources, and .gives only the average yield of the crops mentioned, and may be 
taken as a fair sample of the average for the State at large, one year with another. 
It must be understood, however, that on the prevailing soil of Minnesota, with 
manuring and careful cultivation, the actual yield is often nearly double the above 
figures. Potatoes, for instance, set down at 208, on good soil, and ordinary culti- 
vation, will ea.sily yield 300 bushels per acre ; wheat 35, corn 40, and other crops 
in proportion. In 1865, from 400,000 acres of wheat in Minnesota there was 
harvested the enormous crop of 10.000,000 l)ushels, being an average yield of 25 
bushels tothe acre. Nor was that year's crop considered any thing extraordi- 
nary for our soil. 

Wheat is one of the chief staples of agriculture in Minnesota, and is compara- 
tively exempt from the dangers to which it is exposed in other States, — drouth, 
rust, smut, insects, &c. Theaverage per centage of the tilled area of the State in 
wheat is over 53 per cent, nearly double that of Ohio, which is 33, or Illinois, 
which is 28, from the fact that in those States the uncertainty of the crop, from 
the above causes, renders it unsafe to venture so large a proportion of the crop 
upon so precarious a product. In Minnesota the whest crop is regarded as a 
• sure and safe one, and rarely fails of a fine yield. The farmer sows with an as- 
surance of reaping a good retVirn, which he could feel in no other State, except 
perhaps Wisconsin and Northwestern Michigan, which belong to the same great 
wheat belt as Minnesota. 

COMPARISON WITH OTHER STATES. 

The wheat crop of Minnesota is not only more certain than that of Ohio, 
Illinois, Iowa, and other great wheat growing States, but the yield is greater 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 23 

than the best of them. The average wheat-yield of Minnesota has been put 
down at 22 bushels to the acre ; in some counties, the yield was 25. The aver- 
age wheat-yield of the rich prairies of Illinois, owing to uncertainty of the crop 
perhaps, was stated as not over 8 bushels per acre, by Abraham Lincoln, in an 
address before the Wisconsin State Fair of 1859. The average yield of Iowa 
is not over 12 bushels ; that of Ohio and Pennsylvania will not°exceed 10. The 
average yield of Iowa in 1859, was 4 bushels ; that of Minnesota for the same 
year was 19. In 1850, the four States producing the largest average yield, were 
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas and Florida ; this did not exceed 15 bushels, 
while the other States averaged only from 5 to 12. The largest known yield of 
other States, as compared with the average of Minnesota, is as follows : 

Year. Bush, per acre. Tear. Bush, per acre. 

Minnesota, - - - 1860 22 Michigan. - - - 1848 19 

Ohio, 1850 17.3 Massachusetts, - - 1849 16 

In the face of these facts, we need have no hesitancy in pronouncing Minne- 
sota the banner wheat State of the Union. Spring wheat is principally sown 
but winter wheat does equally well, I believe. 

Corn.— Many newspapers in States south of us have asserted that Minnesota 
is too cold for corn. But this is not so ; though not so much of a staple pro- 
duct as wheat, corn grows well in Minnesota, and the yield compares favorably 
•with that of the best corn States. When stock, especially hogs, are raised to a 
greater extent than at present in the State, the corn crop must eventually become 
an important one to our farmers. The average corn yield of Minnesota in 1859, 
a bad year, was 26 bushels ; 1860, 35 1 ; 1865, 43 J ; the average may be set 
down at 35 bushels per acre ; that of Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky at 20 ; that 
of Iowa, just south of us, 23. The average yield in 1859, was 26 bushels, 11 
per cent, higher than that of Iowa for the same year. 

"The following table will show how the corn yield of Minnesota in 1860 
compares with that of other Northwestern and Middle States in the Census re- 
cord of 1860 : 

Average yield per acre. Average yield per acre 

Minnesota, - - - 35,67 Michigan, - - - 32 

Ohio, - - - - - 36 Wisconsin, - - - 35 

Indiana, - - - 33 Pennsvlvauia, - - 20 

Illinois, . - . . 33 New York, - - - 27 

Iowa, - - -. - 32 

"These statistics established beyond a cavil the fact, that while Minnesota is far 
ahead of any of these States in its capacity for wheat productioji, it is inferior to 
none of them as a corn State." — 2d Rep. Com. of Statistics. 

"This," adds the Report, " strikingly confirms the law already noticed, that the 
cultivated plants yield their greatest products near the northernmost limits of 
their respective growth." 

Oats — The superiority of our climate and soil in the production of the 
cereals is nowhere more strikingly manifested than in the inferior classes of these 
grains." In 1859, the average yield of this crop was 33 bushels to the acre ; 
in 1860, it was 42 ; in 1865, the yield was 51 J bushels. I have no means of 
-compai'iug these results with the yield of other States, but doubt not but that the 
comparison would be a favorable as that of wheat and corn. 

Rye, Barley and Buckivheat, like the otiier small grains, do exceedingly well 
in Minnesota. Mr. Wheelock in the valuable Report so often referred to says : 
"The climatic influences which give the wheat of Minnesota its recognized 
superiority of grain, are especially marked in the quality of our barley. This is 
beginning to be so generally recognized, that it is already exported in consider- 
able quantities to supply breweries in the Middle States." The average yield per 
acre of these graii^s for three years were as follows : 

1859. 1860. 1862, .1^65. 

Bye, . - - - 19.4 21.56 24.00 - — 
Barley, . - - . 29.1 33.23 34.00 37.50 
Buckwheat, - . - 6.5 15.73 26.00 



24 MINNESOTA : 

1859, it must be remembered, was a poor crop year, and the small yield of 
buckwheat lor some years, is owing to the fact that it is generally sown on refuse 
land fit for nothing else. 

Potatoes. — "The superior flavor and the rich farinaceous quality of the pota- 
toes of Minnesota, afford an apt illustration of the principle maintained by Dr. 
Forry, that the cultivated plants come to perfection only near the nothern limits 
of their growth. In the south, the potatoe, in common with other tuberous and 
bulbous plants, with beets, turnips, and other garden roots, is scarcely fit for 
human food. 'A forcing sun,' says Dr. Forry, ' brings the potatoe to fructifica- 
tion before the roots have had time to attain their proper size, or ripen into the 
qualities proper for nourishment.' Minnesota, at the West, reproduces the best 
northern samples of this delicious esculent, in characteristic perfection. From 
their farina and flavor, the potatoes of Minnesota are already held in considerable 
esteem as a table delicacy in the States below us, and a market is rapidly gi'ow- 
ing up for them throughout the States of the Mississippi Yalley, as is indicated 
by increasing exports." — /. A. Wheelock. 

The potatoe crop of Minnesota is remarkably exempt from the rot which ofteE 
affects that of States south of us. In the fall of 1864, a large proportion of the 
potatoes in the St. Louis and Eastern markets were rotten hearted, while Minne- 
sota potatoes were perfectly sound. The average yield of this crop in 1859, 
according to the assessors' returns was only 115 bushels to the acre },in 1860, it 
was 138 ; and in 1865, 164 bushels. These figures must not be understood as 
giving a fair showing of the actual capacity of the soil, when it is known that the 
crops giving these results were simply plowed in, and overrun with grass, receivings 
QO other attention than one or two plowings. When due attention is paid to 
cultivation, the yield will be from 300 to 400 bushels per acre. I have taken 
50 bushels from a patch 70 feet square, which had been properly weeded with 
the hoe. 

Sorghum. — But little attention has been paid to this crop in Minnesota. It 
is evidently adapted to a warmer climate, but planted early, on our rich soil, it 
will grow and produce equal to any place in the world. The average yield from 
very imperfect returns, has been set at down 72^ gallons ; but "some instances 
are reported where a product of 200 and even 300 gallons has been obtained 
from one acre," says Mr. Wheelock : and there is no doubt but that the average 
yield maybe safely estimated at from 100 to 150 gallons per acre. 

Maple Sugar. — The sugar maple is found plentifully in the timbered part of 
the State. A product of 370,947 pounds of maple sugar, was reported for 1860. 

Tobacco. — In 1862, 48,137 pounds of tobacco, averaging 1,140 pounds per 
acre,were raised in the State. 

Hay. — Timothy and clover flourish in Minnesota ; in fact, white clover, red 
top, and blue grass seem indigenous to the soil, and speedily cover any land 
pastured much. The tame grasses are but little cultivated on this account ; the 
luxuriant growth of the native grasses, which cover the "immense surface of 
natural meadow laud formed by the alluvial bottoms of the intricate network of 
streams which every where intersect the country" and which "are as rich and 
nutricious in this latitude as the best exotic varieties," render cultivation unne- 
cessary. The average yield of these grasses is 2.12 tons per acre, 60 per cept. 
greater than that of the great hay State of Ohio, which, according to the Com. 
of Statistics of that State, is IJ tvus per acre. 

The lint plants. Flax, Hemp, i^c, as they come to perfection only in a cool 
climate, do extremely well in Minnesota. Their bark, in southern climates, is 
harsh and brittle, because the plant is forced into maturity so rapidly that the 
lint does not acquire either consistency or tenacity. Minnesota is equal for flax 
and hemp growth to Northern Europe. The yield of hemp lint in 1862, was 
1,140 pounds per acre ; flax lint, 750 pounds per acre. 

Onions, Turnips, Parsnips, Carrots, Beets, and nearly all bulbous plants, do 
equally as well as the potatoe. 

Sxveet Potatoes. — Our loamy, warm sandy soil is just the thing for it, but oar 
seasons are rather short ; planted early however, it yields a good crop. The- 
average yield of sweet potatoes in 1862, was 150 bushels per acre. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 25 

Turnips, Rutabagoes, and Beets often attain a great size. 

The Salad Plants. — Cabbages, lettuces, endive, celery, spinach — plants whose 
leaves only are eaten — are not only more tender here than in warm climates, 
where the relaxing sun lays open their very buds, and renders their leaves thia 
and tough, but are more nutricious, because their growth is slow and their 
juices well digested. 

Melons, although they come in rather late, instead of throwing too much of 
their growth into the vine, as they do south, attain a large size, and a rich sac- 
charine and aromatic flavor. This is especially true of the Cantelope melon, 
which in warmer climates has its sides baked or rots before it is fully matured. 

Pumpkins, Sq^iash, t^c, on the same principle, fully mature, and grow very 
fine and large. The Hubbard variety requires early planting, say first of May. 

Beans, Peas, ^^c, of every variety, are fine and prolific. Rhubarb, or Fie 
Plant, flourishes without cultivation. 

The Hop Culture pays well in this State. 

Perhaps in no State in the Union does the soil so surely and amply reward la- 
bor, or yield larger products for the amount of labor bestowed on it. It is easily 
cleared of weeds, and ouce clean, its warm forcing nature enables the crop to 
speedily outstrip all noxious growths. Two good thorough workings usually in- 
sures a good growth of almost any cultivated crop. 

FRUITS. 

Apples, ^c. — An impression .seems to prevail abroad that we cannot raise - 
fruit in Minnesota, — "an extraordinary inference," says Wheelock, "when we 
consider that many forms of wild fruit are indigenous to the country." Our cli- 
mate is evidently not so well adapted to fruit-raising as that of some other States ■ 
south of us. Still, sufficient of most kinds may be raised to supply the home 
demand. It has been demonstrated that many varieties of apples do well here, 
and there are now several bearing orchards in the vicinity of Minneapoli's, Wi- 
nona, St Paul, Red Wing, Owatoua, Rochester, Mankato, and other portions of 
the State. The specimens of Minnesota apples at the State fair of 1866, were 
equal in size and flavor to the same varieties elsewhere produced. It is not the 
severity of the winter that- kills the tree, but the alternate thawing and freezing 
of the south side of the tree in the spring, which is avoided by mulching, and 
protecting the stem of the tree when young, by a wrapping of straw. The State 
being new, time sufficient for planting and acclimating orchards, has not elapsed; 
but there is no longer any doubt of our ability to raise fine apple orchards. 
Dwarf cherry and peach trees, which are easily protected in winter, do well, but 
the larger varieties are too tender. However, cherries may yet succeed, as the 
wild variety is a native of the soil. Apples grow well in Wisconsin, right along 
side of us ; in Canada and New-England, north of us. The inference is clear 
that by procuring our trees north of us, (not south, as has heretofore been the 
practice) or planting the seeds and thus acclimating them, or by grafting on to 
the stock of the Siberian crab, which is remarkably healthy and hardy, and flour- 
ishes here through the coldest winters without protection, we may raise all the 
£^ples we wish. There are several flourishing nurseries near Winona, Red 
Wing, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and other portions of the State. 

Crab Apples. — The wild crab apple tree is indigenous to the soil, improves 
much by cultivation, and furnishes an excellent stock for grafting, but inferior to 
the Siberian Crab, which is equally hardy, and furnishes an excellent apple for 
preserving. Some varieties approach a hen's egg in size, and are quite palatable. 

Strawberries. — Every variety of this excellent fruit does well here, attaining 
a size and flavor unsurpassed. Wild ones fill the woods and prairies every year. 

Grapes. — The different varieties succeed well here, and several varieties of the 
wfld grape vine grow luxuriantly all over the State. The cultivated varieties, 
while young, require to be laid down in the fall, and protected by a light cover- 
ing of straw. The nature of our climate and soil would seem to designate Min- 
nesota as a great grape-growing State. The juices of the grape, says Dr. For- 
ry, are best matured for wine near the northern limit of their growth. On the- 



26 MINNESOTA: 

Ehine, in Hungary, -the sides of the Alits, and other elevated or northern situa- 
tions, the vine is strongest, richest, and most esteemed. The grapes of France 
are more delicious for the table than those of Spain or Madeira, south of it. 
The excess of heat and moisture in the States south 'and east of us, blights 
the grape to such an extent that its culture has been abandoned. The vine, 
however, whether wild or cultivated, grows there luxuriantly. The vinous fer- 
mentation, as well as the pressing and distillation of the juice, can also be best 
conducted in a climate comparatively cool. 

Truman M. Smith, Esq., of the " St. Paul Gardens and Nursery," has suc- 
ceeded well in a large variety of fruit. He writes me: — " Grapes have always 
done well with me. I have not in any year failed to have my grapes thoroughly 
ripe before frost; and in 1867, the coldest one on record, I ripened twenty-seven 
varieties, and have now, on this 20th of January, ' Delawares ' in good condition, 
by hanging them up in a cool, dry cellar." 

Gooseberries, Currants, and Raspberries, are cultivated extensively through- 
out the State, unsurpassed in flavor, size, and productiveness. They also grow 
wild, in common with blueberries, ivhortleberries, and both marsh and upright 
cranberries. 

% Wild plums, of a great many different varieties, some of them very large and 
fine, approximating the peach for domestic purposes, abound in the neighbor- 
hood of streams, lakes, and moist localities. They . improve so much by being 
transplanted and cultivated as to equal any of the tame varieties. Wild cherries 
are also plenty. 

From this list it is apparent that Minnesotians are not likely to suffer for the 
want of fruit. And it may be remarked of all fruits generally grown in Minne- 
sota, that, owing to the principle announced by Dr. Forry, they attain a perfec- 
tion found only at the northernmost limit of their growth."^ The pulp is delicate, 
saccharine, and of a rich flavor, while they are free fi-om the larvae, gum, knots, 
and acerbity of fruit grown further south. The dryness of the atmosphere, as 
well as the inherent perfection of the fruit, enables us to preserve it for a much 
longer time than can be done in warmer localities. Ajiples keep much better 
than in St Louis or Cincinnati. 

THE GROWLN'G SEASON LN" MINNESOTA. 

In Minnesota, duririg the growing season, we find all those conditions most 
favorable to agriculture present in a marked degree. Its mean spring tempera- 
ture is 45.6 degrees, which is the same as that of Central Wisconsin, Northern 
Illinois, Northern Ohio, Central and Southern Penu|5ylvania and New Jersey, 2^ 
degrees south of it. Its summer temperature is 70.6 degrees, corresponding 
with that of Middle Illinois and Ohio, Southern Pennsylvania, Long Island and 
New Jersey, 5 degrees south of it. 

The season of vegetation in Minnesota, in common with that of the upper belt 
of the temperate zone, is embraced between the fir.st of April and the first of 
October. Some idea of the average temperature of this period may be obtained, 
by comparing it with the same period in other localities, whose agricultural capa- 
cities are well known : 





April. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


August. 


Sept. 


St. Paul, Minn. 


- 46.3 


59.0 


68.4 


73.4 


70.1 


58.9 


Marietta, 0., - 


- - 52.3 


61.4 


69.6 


73.5 


70.7 


63.6 


Chicago, 111., 


46.0 


56.3 


62.7 


70.7 


68.5 


60.1 


Boston, Mass., 


45.57 


57.04 


65.57 


7L08 


69.10 


62.78 



It will be observed that the temperature of the growing months in the above 
places is so nearly the same, that the difference can be scarcely appreciable * 
"The April of Minnesota is still tlie April of England, but her May corresponds 
in temperature with the English June." 

♦"Minnesota, from its high northern position, has always had to maintain a certain struggle for 
a just appreciation against the ignorant preconceptions of the majority of people of our days, who 
were educated in the notion that latitude governs climate. It is difficult to make the New Hamp- 
shire farmer comprehend that St. Anthony Falls, in the latitude of Uanover, has the summer climate 
•of Philadelphia — or that wheat, which wiU scarcely grow in northern New England, thrives on the 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 27 

The spring temperature of Ohio, it will be notieed, is greater than that of 
Minnesota, while its summer temperature is less. The coolness of the Minnesota 
spring, and the rapid increase in temperature as summer approaches, is claimed 
as a great advantage, and on this fact the prefection of its graias and other agri- 
cultural products in a great measure depends. The fact anounced by Dr. Forrey, 
'that the cultivated plants yield the greatest products near the northernmost 
limits at which they will grow," is explained on the principle that the cool spring 
restrains the growth of the trunk and foliage of the plant, and throws the full 
development into the ripening period. "The very warm southern spring devel- 
ops the juices of the plant too rapidly. They run into the stalk, blade, and 
leaf, to the neglect of the seed, and dry away before the fructification becomes 
•complete. Our cooler springs reverse this process, restrain the undue luxuriance 
of the stem and leaf, and concentrate the juices in the development of the fruit 
-.and seed." 

The cereS,ls all attain their most perfect development in northern climates. 
Potatoes and other cultivated roots follow the same law The perfection and 
strength of the grasses in cool and northern regions, and their power of keeping 
horses and cattle fat without grain, is proverbial. Although the grasses attain 
sufiicient size south, they .are forced to a rapid fructification before they have 
time to elaborate their juices, autl consequently contain but a small proportion 
of nutriment. These facts depend upon the same general law. At the same 
iime, the products of grain, flour, &c., are manufactured to better advantage in a 
cold climate, as they are preserved from sourness, mustiness, &c., a longer 
iime.* 

Period of Exemption from Frost. — The period of total exemption from 
frost in Minnesota, varies from four to five and a half months, which allows 
ample time for the perfection of all the annual crops, The frost is general- 
ly entirely out of the ground, which is then ready for planting, the last of April 
and first of May. The first fall of frost takes place with great regularity about 
the middle of September, though sometimes delayed till the middle of October. 
Minnesota is not exposed to late aiid early frosts more than the Middle and West- 
ern States. The peculiar dryness of the air also enables vegetation to resist 
light frosts, which in other localities would prove disastrous. This fact is exem- 
plified by the frost of June 4th, 1859, which was general nearly all over the 
United States. In Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, it was universally destructive ; 
ice formed one-thisd inch thick in Ohio ; but in Minnesota no damage whatever 
was done to field crops. On account of this dryness, the temperature may fall 
considerably below the freezing point at times, without producing frost. The 
•dryness of the atmosphere, notwithstanding the abundance of the summer rains, 
is also very important on account of the protection it gives wheat and oats from 
Tust, smut, and insects, which often seriously injure the wheat fields of moister 
climates. 

Advantageous Distribution of Rain. — The mean annual fall of rain in Min- 
Eiesota, as set down in Blodget's hyetal charts, is twenty-five inches.. It is a 
remarkable fact that the greater part of this moisture is deposited during the 
six growing months, when it is most needed, instead of being wasted in delug- 
icg the land and making. winter disagreealsle, as in New England and the West- 
era and Middle States. The following, from the report of the Commissioner of 
Statistics, shows the contrast between Minnesota and the above States, in this 
respect : 

^th parallel, a thousand miles north of St. Paul. One of the most curious consequences of this ab- 
rupt northeru deflection of the isothermal Unes around the head of the great lake basins, is that St. 
Faul, in latitude 45, is very cousiderably warmer during the whole six mouths of the growing season, 
than Chicago, in latitude 42. 

"It is not a little amusing, upon this showing, to read in the oflBcial report of the Illinois Central 
Company, and in the Chicago Democrat, that "every spring brings down the frost-bitten and chilled 
infaabitaots of Minnesota, to the mild and genial clime of Illinois.''— Report of Commissioner of 
Statisti<;s. 

♦See an article on the "Acclimating Principle of Plants," in the American Journal of Geology, by 
©c. Forty. 



MINlSrESOTA : 








Minn. 


Ills. 


Pa. 


Mass. 


:hs, - 19.55 


26.30 


20.94 


23.15- 


months, - 5.88 


15.50 


21.40 


23.81 


11.00 


13.20 


11.93 


10.71 


- 1.92 


7.10 


10.76 


11.85 



28 



The six warm and growing months, 
The six cold and non-producing months 
The three summer months. 
The three winter months, 

"Now, all the points here brought into comparison have a greater rain fall ia 
the whole growing season than Minnesota ; but the summer fall is nearly the 
same, their superfluous spring and autumn rains, which are unnecessary and evea 
injurious to vegetation, making up the difference in the whole quantity for the 
warm months." 

The excessive autumnal rains in the above States are often very destructive to 
harvests. Immense amounts of wheat and corn were thus desti-oyed in Illinois 
in 1862. "The Minnesota farmer reaps as- he, sows, in the full confidence that 
no untimely tempest will defraud him of the fruits of his labors. In these wet 
climates, in the reeking summer air, agriculture is a perpetual vigil against con- 
cealed enemies.' 

CHEAPNESS OF OPENING FARMS. 

It is a fact worthy of note, that in all places whose growth is unsubstantial,. 
the price of land is disproportionately high," while its products are low. But 
in Minnesota, real estate is low, land is extremely cheap, (owing to the large 
surplus yet unoccupied,) while its products command the first prices. Wheat, 
oats, corn, potatoes, and in fact all that the farmer raises, find a ready market for 
cash at home. A curious illustration of the practical working of this jjrinciple 
is that lands purchased at ten dollars per acre are paid for out of the proceeds 
of the first crap. Take this instance : A gentleman having a farm for sale, 
ofiTered it, with improvements, for $9 per acre. Failing to sell, he leased it, 
receiving one-third of the crop. His third netted him more than he would have, 
realized from the sale of the land. Many such instances could be given. This 
illustrates what bargains may be secured wheie lauds are cheap and the products 
of the soil high. A communication in the St. Paul Press, says : "It is our 
duty to let people read and learn of Minnesota, where a man can buy land, 
break and fence it, and pay for the land, breaking, fencing and all expenses, tmi 
of the first cropT 

A man with a small, but high priced farm in the old States can dispose of it 
for sufficient to set himself up well in Minnesot^i, and procure a farm for each of 
his children besides ; and these farms in a few years will be as valuable as th& 
one in the old State is now. The fortunes made by farmers here within a few 
years, would scarcely be (fredited in the older States. 



THE CLIMATE OF MINNESOTA, 



UNPARALLELED HEALTHFULNESS — EXEMPTION FROM PULMONARY AND MALARIOUS- 

DISEASES — CAUSES OF ITS SALUBRITY — DRYNESS AND PURITY OF THE AIR 

TEMPERATURE AS COM'PARED WITH OTHER STATES AS A RESORT FOR INVALIDS^ 

&C., &C. 

BY A PHYSICIAN. 

The assertion that the climate of Minnesota is one of the healthiest in the 
world, may be broadly and confidently made. It is sustained by the almost, 
unanimous testimony of the thousands of invalids who have sought its pure smd 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 29 

■feracing air, aud recovered from consumption and other diseases after tliey had been 
given up as hopeless by their home physicians ; it is sustained by the experience 
of its inhabitants for twenty years ; aud it is sustained by the publislied statis- 
tics of mortality in the different States. The eminent Dr. Horace Bushnell, Ol 
Hartford, Conn., after spending a year in Cuba and another in California, with- 
out any permanent benefit, spent a year iu Minnesota, and recovered. After 
returning East aud submitting to a rigid exaniinatiou, his physicians said : " You 
have had a difBculty iu the right lung, but it is healed." IiQ a published letter 
he says : — "I have known of very remarkable cases of recovery there which had 
seemed to be hopeless. One, of a gentleman who was carried ashore on a litter, 
and became a hearty, robust man. Another who told me he had even coughed 
up bits of his lung of the size of a walnut, was then, seven or eight months 
after, a perfectly sound-looking, well-set man, with no cough at all. I fell in 
with somebody every few days who had come there aud been restored ; and with 
multitudes of others whose disease has been arrested, so as to allow the prose- 
cution of business, and whose lease of life, as they had no doubt, waa much 
lengthened by their migration to that region of the country." 

Many of our most prominent business men, whom no one would now take for 
invalids, belong to the above class. Almost any one who has r'esided here for 
any length of time can refer to numbers, now enjoying ordinary health, who on 
first coming here were considered hopelessly gone with cousumptiou, or other 
chronic disease. It is believed consumption is never generated here, which is a 
strong proof that the climate is a favorable one for those afflicted with the disease. 

Minnesota is entirely exempt from malaria, and consequently the numerous 
diseases known to arise from it, such as chills aud fever, autumnal fevers, ague 
cake or enlarged spleen, enlargement of the liver, &c., dropsy, diseases of the 
kidneys, affections of the eye, and various billious diseases, and derangements of 
the stomach aud bowels, although sometimes arising from other causes, are often 
^ue wholly to malarious agency, and are only temporarily relieved by medicine, 
because the patient is constantly exposed to the malarious influence which gen- 
erates them. Enlargement of the liver aud spleen is very common iu Southern 
and Southwestern States. We are not only free from those ailments, but by com- 
ing to Minnesota, often without any medical treatment at all, patients speedily 
recover from this class of diseases ; the miasmatic poison being soon eliminated 
.from the system, and not being exposed to its farther inception, the functions of 
health are gradually resumed. 

Diarrhea aud dysentery are not so prevalent as in warmer latitudes, and are of 
a milder tyj^e. Pneumonia aud typhoid fever are very seldom met with, and 
then merely as sporadic cases. 

Diseases of an epidemic character never have been knovra to prevail here. 
^' Even that dreadful scourge, diptheria, which like a, destroying angel, swept 
through portions of the country, leaving desolation m its train, passed us by 
■with scarce a grave to^ mark its course. The diseases common, to infancy and 
childhood, partake of the same mild character, and seldom prove fatal." This is 
the language of Mrs. Colburn, an autfeoress, and the experience of physicians 
corroborates this opinion. 

That dreadful scourge of the human family, the cholera, is alike unknown 
here. During the summer of 1866, while hundreds were daily cut down by this 
visitation iu New York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and other places, and it prevailed 
to an alarming extent in Chicago, — not a single case made its appearance 
iu Minnesota. 

Another, aud a very large class of invalids, which derive great benefit from 
the climate of Minnesota, are those whose systems have become relaxed, debili 
tated, and broken down, by over-taxation of the mental aud physical energies 
dyspepsia, &c. 

And these facts, establishing as they do the remarkable salubrity of our cli- 
mate, are borne out by statistics. The following table is copied from the Uni- 
ted States census of 1860. The percentage column exhibits the number of 
deaths in every lOO persons ; the last column shows the number, in each State, 
out of which one person has died : 



30 



MINNESOTA 





Popula- 


Deaths. 


li 







"r.^- 


Deaths. 




I 


Alabama,. 


964,201 


12,760 


1.32 


76 


Missouri, - 


1,182,012 


17,557 


1.4» 


6T 


Arkansas, - 


435,450 


8,86(1 


2.031 49 


New Hampshire, 


326,073 


4,469 


1.87 


72; 


California, 


879,994 


3,705 


.97! 102 


New Jersey, • 


672,035 


7,525 


1.11 


8&' 


Connecticut, 


460,147 


6,138 


1.S8 


74 


New York, - 


3,880,735 


46,881 


1.20 


82' 


Delaware, 


112,216 


1,846 


1.11 


90 


North Carolina, 


992,622 


12,607 


1.27 


78- 


Florida, 


144,425 


1,769 


1.25 


79 


Ohio, 


2,.3.39,511 


24, 724 i 1.05 


9* 


Georgia, - 


1,057,286 


12,807 


1.21 


82 


Oregon, - 


52,465 


251 


.47 


209- 


llllnoiB, 


1,711,951 


19,263 


1.12 


88 


Pennsylvania, - 


2,906,115 


80,214 


1.03 


96 


Iowa, - • 


674,913 


7,260 


1.C7 


93, 


Rhode Island, 


174,620 


2,479 


1.41 


70 


Indiana, 


1,350,438 


15,205 


1.12 


88 


South Carolina, 


703,708 


9,745 


1.3S 


72 


Kansas, - 


107,306 


1,443(1. 34 


74 


Tennessee, 


1,109,801 


15,176 


1.36 


73 


Kentucky, - 


1,155,684 


16,467 1.44 


70 


Texas, - 


604,215 


9,869 


1.55 


64 


Louisiana, 


708,002 


12,32911.74 


57 


Vermont, - 


315,098 


3,-355 


1.06 


9a 


Maine, - - 


628,379 


• 7,614jl.21 


82 


Virginia, 


1,596,318 


22,474 


1 40 


71 


Maryland, 


687,049 


7,370 1 1.07 


93 


Wisconsin, 


775,831 


7,129 


.92 


10* 


Massachusetts, 


1,231,063 


21,30411.78 


57 


Dist. of Columbia, 


75,080 


1,275 


1.69 


58 


Michigan, 


749,113 


7399I 98 


101 


Nebraska,-- - 


28,841 


381 


1.32 


76- 


Minnesota, - 


172,123 


1,109 1 64 


155 


New Mexico, 


93,516 


1,805 


1.39 


71 


Mississippi, - 


791,305 


12,21411.54 


64 


Utah, - .- 


40,273 


'374 


.92 


107 



It will be observed that Minnesota has the smallest mortality of any State iu 
the Union, except Oregon. Oregon, though a very healthy clime, is not a resort 
for invalids. Lying on the Pacific coast, its climate, like that of New England., 
is too humid to attract invalids. On the contrary, Minnesota is a great resort 
for consumptive invalids, and those laboring under various chronic diseases.. 
Of course, some come too late, and die here — probably living a year or so 
longer than they would at home. This swells our' mortality list, and taking it 
out, Minnesota would hold a higher place than even Oregon. 

As additional evidence of our healthy climate, I will give the per centage of 
mortality in the City of St. Paul for the year 1867. This is ascertained from the 
burial records of the different cemeteries, which are kept with much care, as 
required by law, and are entirely reliable. In the City of St. Paul, containing 
eighteen thousand people, according to the report of Dr. Mattocks, health 
officer, there were in the year 1867 272 deaths, being one in 66 or 1.51 per cent.^ 
a ratio less than that of any city in the universe ! The St. Paul Pioneer, in 
publishing the mortality of the year, says: — " "When we consider that our city i& 
a hospital for invalids, even these figures rob it of its real meed of praise. A 
very large proportion of the persons dying in this city are strangers, who have 
come here sick and almost dying, to receive the benefits of our salubrious climate, 
but only to linger a few months and then cease the struggle. The city is con- 
stantly filled with them in all stages of disease. Excluding these (and they should 
be excluded) from our table of mortality, and counting only the deaths in our 
regular residents, would reduce the deaths to ksa than 1 per cerft. of the popula- 
tion." , 



CAUSES OF THE HEALTHFULNESS OF MTNIOISOTA. 



However interesting it might be to go into a scientific exposition of the- 
causes and theories of the exemption of Minnesota from many of the diseases 
which annually carry off thousands in the older States of America and Europe, 
space will not permit, and I must confine myself to such facts as are abready es- 
tablished beyond cavil or dispute. 

Absence of Malaria. — A large proportion of the diseases which afflict man- 
kind have their origin in the poisonous and unhealthy emanations which arise 
from the earth. These emanations embody a subtle principle termed malaria, 
which is constantly rising, like an imperceptible gas, poisoning the air, and gen- 
erating disease, chills and fever, different kinds of fever, pneumonia, diarrhea, 
dysentery, debility, biliousness, diseases of the liver, spleen, kidneys, &c. The 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 31 

low temperature of our winters, continuing as they do for four months, efifectually 
destroys any malaria that might lui'k in the soil, ready to spring forth in warii> 
weather. 

We are thus entirely free from malaria, and the fact is well established that. 
ehills and fever, and diseases generally, of a malarious origin, are entirely un- 
known in Minnesota, and those who come here suQFering these ailments speedily 
recover. 

Perturbation of the Jlir. — The atmosphere, like large bodies of water, re- 
quires perturbation to preserve its purity ; otherwise it becomes heavy and 
stagnant, loaded with impurities and unhealthy, depressing the spirits by its mo- 
notony, and inducing a torpid condition of the whole system. The waters of 
the ocean, and of large lakes, are kept pure by the agitation of the winds and 
tides. All healthy countries are windy, but all windy countries are not healthy. 
Winds blowing for many days in succession from one quarter, become pregnant 
with moisture and other impurities. The winds in Minnes«ta are not persistent 
and severe, but constitute rather a lively agitation of the air, which constantly 
changes it, carrying off noxious vapors and effluvia, conducing to its clearness 
and purity, and imparting to it those qualities which give tone to the system 
and invigorate the nutritive functions. 

The prevailing direction of our winds is from the south, according to obser- 
vations, extending over twelve years, recorded in the U. S. Army meteorologi- 
cal register. "This fact," says Mr. Wheelock, " goes far toward accounting for 
the exceptional warmth of the spring and summer months in Minnesota, and 
serves to show that the direction of currents of air exerts an influence only less 
than the position in latitude in forming the measure of heat and cold." Our 
winds, instead of passing over the ocean, laden, like those dreaded "east winds" 
of New England and the Atlantic coast generally, with saline moisture, come to 
us only after traversing half a continent of land, pure and invigorating. 

A comparison of the mean force of the wind for ten years, at different places, 
gives the following result : Fort Snelling, Minnesota, 1,87 ; New London, Con- 
necticut, 2.67 ; New York city, 2.96 ; Eastport, Maine, 2.63 ; Portsmouth,- 
N. H., 2.50; Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 2.20; Detroit, Michigan, 2.26; Fort 
Atkinson, Iowa, 2.48 ; Fort Leavenworth, .\ ansas, 2.09. We thus perceive that 
the mean ybrce of the wind in Minnesota is less than at either of the other places,, 
representing, as they do, all sections of the Union excpt the South, and con- 
firms the statement previously made, that our winds are lively agitations of the 
air, rather than strong, continuous currents. As a consequence, the snows drift 
less than in the East, and usually lie without material disturbance. 

The following table, from the report of the Commissioner of Statistics, gives 
a synopsis of the climate of Minnesota for the whole year, from which it will be 
seen that a more perfect harmony between the three great fundamental condi- 
tions of climate than is here displayed, could be /ound no where on earth : 

Mean Temp'ture— degs. 13.7 17.6 31.4 46.3 59.0 68.4 73.4 70.1 58.9 47.1 81.7 16.9 

Rain— inches, - - - 0.7 0.5 1.8 2.1 3 2 3.6 4.1 3.2 8.3 1.4 1.3 0.7 

Prevailing Winds— N.E. N.W. N.W. N.W. S.E. S.E. S.E. S.E. S.E. N. N.E. 

Courses, . . - . to to to to to to to to to S. to to 

N.W. S.W. S.W. S.W. S.W. S.W. S.W. S.W. S.W. N.W. N.W. 

Dryness of the Air. — Another great cause of the salubrity of our climate is 
the marked dryness of the air. . Moisture is a powerful agent in generating dis- 
ease. It is the main vehicle of malaria and other atmospheric poisons. They 
cling to it, or it holds them in solution. It is through the watery vapor of the 
atmosphere that most morbific agents reach the human body. While an atmos- 
phere which is too dry, like that of arid plains and sandy deserts, is unhealthy, 
engendering over-action, fever, and debility, that which contains an excess of 
moisture is still more so. A humid climate rapidly abstracts the natural warmth 
of the body, and lowers the vitality of the system, producing feeble action and 
poor nutrition as a consequence, thus rendering the system open to attacks of 
inflammations, colds, coughs and consumption, as well as neuralgic and rhuematic 



;32 MINNESOTA : 

affections. Cold, however intense; is not so perceptible if the air is dry. For 
example : wet one hand ; hold it and the dry one in tne cold for a few minutes. 
A damp air penetrates and chills, drives the blood inwards, and shrinks and 
wrinkles up the skin. A cold, dry air, like ours, is tonic, exhilarating, and 
strengthening. It has not the feverish heat of the desert, nor yet the humid 
chilliness of the coast. This dryness further conduces to its purity. It is pure 
air, such as God intended to be breathed, oxygenating and purifying the blood, 
and exerting a tonic influence on the whole organism. It is free from the thou- 
sand and one impurities held in suspension by the excess of moisture prevalent 
in the wet climates of southern and western States, and in New England. It is 
fall of electricity, and rich in the life-giving principle termed ozone, never found 
in impure air. 

Temperature of Minnesota — Compared with other States — Errors repecl- 
ing our Winters — Secret of the Salubrity of our Climate. — The popular im- 
pression that the further north you go the colder it gets, is an erroneous one. 
The rule is open to manj^ exceptions. The configuration of the earth is such, 
that owing to mountain ranges, vast sandy plains, large inland bodies of water, 
&c., the isothermal, or heat lines, are deflected several degrees north or south, 
thus giving places a thousand miles apart the same temperature. Thus places 
in the same latitude of the Saskatchewan river, (latitude 51° N.) enjoy the 
same annual mean temperature as places in the latitade of Fort Union (latitude 
37° N.) a thousand miles south of it. Minnesota, owing to the large lakes east 
and north of it, and. the vast arid plains, extending from latitude 35° to latitude 
47° west of it, enjoys a mean spring temperature of 45°, warmer than Chicago 
2i° south of it, and equal to Southern Michigan, Central New York, and Massa 
chusetts ; a summer mean of 70°, equal to ('eutral New York, Central Wisconsin, 
Northern Pennsylvania, and Northern Ohio, four degrees south of us ; an autum 
nal mean of 45°, equal to New Hampshire, Central Wisconsin and Central Mich 
igan, 2i° south of us ; a winter mean of 16°, similar to Northern Wisconsin 
Nothern Michigan, Central Vermont and New Hampshire, on the same line of 
latitude, but nearer the ocean ; while its climate, for the entire year, being a mean 
of 45°, is similar to that of Central Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Central New 
York, two degrees south of it. We thus have an annual range of temperature 
from the summer of Southern Ohio to the winter of Montreal. 

Referring to the above contrasts of climate, Mr. J. Disturnell, in a paper read 
before the American Geographical and Statistical Society of New York, says : 
"This remarkable fact can only be accounted for on the presumption that Min- 
nesota receives its favorable climatic inflence as regards health and growth of 
vegetation, from secret laws of nature, yet to be discovered." 

But the veil which covers these natural laws is easily drawn aside. The luxu- 
riant growth of her vegetation, large yields of cereals, &c., as we have seen, are 
accounted for by her warm, rich soil, forcing summer sun and timely rains, while 
the secret of the salubrity of her climate is found in the dryness and consequent 
purity of our atmosphere, combined with all the advantages of a rugged, delight- 
ful land, charming seasons, lovely and magnificent scenery. 

That the dryness of our air is real, we have many evidences. Meat hung up, 
even in moderately warm weather, dries up before it spoils. Wagons, barrels, 
&c., if left idle a short time, drop to pieces. The hygrometer, an instrument for 
determining the moisture in the air, shows our air to be very dry, generally. The 
hyetal, or rain charts, in Blodget's "Climatology of the United States," shows the 
remarkable fact that Minnesota is the dryest State in the Union, and at the same 
time the best watered, on account of its many lakes and streams, and free from 
drouths. Lying, as it does, between a vast arid belt on its west side, extending 
through twenty-five degrees, and a large humid belt of equal length on its east 
side, it enjoys a happy medium. The mean annual deposit of moisture in Min- 
nesota is 25 inches ; Wisconsin 30 to 40 ; Iowa 25 to 42 ; Indiana, Illinois, 
Ohio, Missouri, 42 to 48 ; Kentucky, Tennessee, 50 ; Cannada, 34 to 36 ; New 
England and New Y'ork, 32 to 45 ; Pennsylvania, 36 ; Arkansas, Louisiana, 
Alabama, and Mississippi, 55 to 63 ; Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, 40 to 42. 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 33 

Errors respecting our Winters. — No region which at present engages the 
public miud, as a field for settlement, has been^eo grossly misrepresented, in re- 
gard to peculiarities of climate, as Minnesota. Fabulous accounts of its arctic 
temperature, piercing winds, and accompanying snows of enormous depth, em- 
belish the columns of the eastern press. — JYeill's History of Minnesota. 

We have seen that such i-mpressions are erroneou.s — that our climate com- 
pares favorably in all respects with that of many other den.sely populated States. 
Disinterested authorities, that cannot be questioned, have set this matter at rest 
long since, and it only remaias to enlighten the public respecting the truth. 
However repugnant to popular prejudice it may seem, our winter fall of snow 
and rain is only one fifth that of New York and New England ; the average de- 
posit of moisture in those places for the winter being ten inches — that of Minne- 
sota two inches. — ISee BlodgeVs Climatology, ^'c. page 342. 

The great bulk of our water falls during the six growing months, in the form 
of refreshing showers, which cool the air and encourag-e vegetation, leaving oar 
winters dry, crisp, and bracing — much easier to endure than the same amount of 
cold in a damp climate. 

MINNESOTA AS A RESORT TOR INVALIDS. 

Ever since consumption has been known, a change of climate has been re- 
commended by physicians as a means of aiTesting a disease which medicine oan- 
not cure. Until within the past few years, it has been customary to send con- 
sumptives to southern latitudes. Bat medical opinion, influenced no doubt, by 
the poor success attending this plan, has undergone a change, and as usual, gone 
from one extreme U) another. Climates of a mild, equable temperature ai-e no 
longer sought ; patients are now sent almost invariably to dry, cool, northern 
climates, where the air is subject to considerable perturbation. 

There are many places which are, or have once been celebrated resorts for con- 
sumptive invalids — Maderia, Veutuor, Torquay, Cuba, Florida, Algiers, Upper 
Figypt, &c. Many of these are now known to be positively injurious to this 
Ciass of patients, and have been abandoned. Among them all, there are very 
few, even if harmless, that possesses any advantage. So unsatisfactory has beeu 
the result of change of climate that many eminent physicians no longer advise 
their patients to try it, beliving that they stand about as good a chance to 
recover at home. The fact that the disease is quite common in all of these places 
of refuge, leads us to the conclusion that the benefit derived from them in such 
cases, if any, is due to the mere change of climate rather than to any special 
influence arising from the localities themselves.* The supposition that a warm 
climate, «r even a cold one possessing an equable temperature, free from sudden 
changes, is required by consumptives, is evidently an erroneous one. Dr. Law- 
aon, the author of one of the ablest works on this disease which bas ever beea 
published in any language, says : "In order to promote health, the atmosphere 
should be subject to some degree of perturbation, and even rapid changes, pro- 
vided tho«e variations are not great or extreme. The steppe of Kirghis, where 
consumption is almost unknown, is remarkable for its rapid changes, and even 
severe winds." Again : "In these early stages of phthisis, patients are already 
beginning to feel the depressing effects of disease, and therefore, require all those 
influences, hygienic and medicinal, which impart tone to the system, and thereby 
invigorate the nutritive functions. It cannot be presumed, however, that a mild 
and equable atmosphere will produce this result ; on the contary, the very mo- 
notony of the atmosphere must lead to depression, and thereby increase the de- 
bility." Of warm climates, he says ; "A very warm, stagnant and moist atmos- 
phere, with but little elevation, would manifestly prove injurious, and there ia 
sufficient ground to justify the conclusion that where the disease is far advanced, 
tropical regions axe unfavorable." "We have abundant testimony to prove 
that when the disease has become established, and the system debilitated, but 

* A Practical Treatise on Phthisis PoLmonalia," by L. M. liawson, Cinolunatl, 1861. 
3 



34 MINNESOTA: 

little good can be derived from warm regions, while, on the contrary, greai htr 
jury mil eften result." M, Rochard, another medical writer, refera to the feet. 
that " tuberculosis marches with greater rapidity in the torrid zone than in 

Europe." 

I have searched through a vast amount of medical authority, and digested nu- 
merous tables of statistics. The conclusion I arrive at is, tiiat the only class of 
consumntives benefitted at all by wai-m, equable regions, are those in the very 
incipient stages ; that the benefit in such cases is due more to the change than 
anything else ; and that the same class of patients would be benefitted to a stifl 
greater degree by a dry, cool, elastic atmosphere, such as we have in Minnesota, 
and in parts of New Mexico and California. 

Dr. Chas. A. Leas, United States consul at Madeira, who has resided in Rus- 
sia, Sweden, Central America, and Madeira, in the service of the government, 
under date of September 10th, 1866, writes : "I have made the subject of cli- 
mate, as a curative agent in consumption, a special study, and in connection with 
my annual report to the State Department at Washington — just now sent on — 
I have entered somewhat into detail upon that subject, and have endeavored to 
show, from observation, that consumption, in its earlier stages, is best relieved 
by a visit to, and residence of greater or less extent in, high northern latitudes, 
instead of warm climates, as is the usual custom. 1 have further suggested Min- 
nesota as aneof the finest climates for that purpose." 

In the report above alluded to. Dr. Leas accounts for the suj>erior advantages 
of a high, diy, cool latitude, in tubercular diseases, on the theory that the lungs, 
in health, are only sufficiently capacious to "admit air enough to purify, through 
its oxygen, the whole of the blood ; in proportion as the air thus breathed is 
contaminated, or mixed with moisture and other impurities, so will the amount 
of oxygen admitted into the lungs at any time, be diminished in quantity, and to 
the same extent, a portion of the vital fluid unoxygenized," giving rise to a di- 
minished vitality, and thus laying the groundwork "for the development of con- 
sumption, under causes favorable to such a result." The atmosphere in high 
northern latitudes, is much purer than that of warm countrias, on account of the 
precipitation of its excess of moisture by the cold, "thus giving a larger amount 
of oxygen, which is the great vivifying element in a given amount of air, and 
thus again enabling the lungs to more thoroughly purify the entire volume of 
blood. And more particularly are the lungs thus aided when a portion of their 
substance is thrown out of action from the actual deposition of tubercular mat- 
ter. Besides all that, the frecjueace of such a large amount of pure atmosphere 
to the circulating fluid, has a decidedly tonic and invigorating efiect upon that 
element, and through it the whole system. * * * * _A.n(j 

for such an atmosphere as is here indicated, I would suggest to invalids affected 
with pulmonary disease, that they are most likely to find it in Minnesota." 

The fact is worthy of note, that this communication comes from Madeira, an 
island which has been termed " the city, of refuge " for consumptives. But the 
testimony of Dr. Mason, and the statistics of Dr. Renton, prove that it is only 
those in the very incipient stages that have been benefitted there. Of forty-seven 
confirmed consumptives who landed there, not one lived six months ! * And yet 
Madeira has the most equable climate in the world, — the temperature 
never varyinif over eleven degrees the year around, — never higher than 74 de- 
grees, nor lower than 63 degrees. With a warm, basaltic soil, protection from 
winds, perennial summer, and tropical luxuriance, it would seem to be the con- 
sumptive's paradise ; but such is not the case. The reason is simply that the air 
is too stagnant, and wants life and perturbation ; and the air is too moist, expe- 
rience proving that consumptives require an air sufficiently moist to prevent ir- 
ritation of the air passages, but at the same time dry, elastic, pure, and invigorar 
ting. A little wind, therefore, does no harm, while the experience of ages has 
at length established the fact, beyond peradventure, that those countries most 
favorable to consumptives, as the steppe of Kirghis, New Mexico, Minnesota 
;;i! I California, are remarkable for the dryness and purity of their arir, and are 
subject to occasional changes of temperature, as well as winds. Another fact 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 35 

worthy of special mention is, that the disea.se is seldom ever generated in those 
countries. 

As compared with the other places mentioned, Minnesota takes the palm from 
tbem all. While some portions of California, and of the Pacific coast general- 
ly, are favorable retreats, others are less so. The mountains are rather cold and 
harsh— the valleys too stagnant and moist The country about Sacramento and 
the interior of the State is the most favorable ; but even here, according to Dr. 
Hatc-h, of Sacramento, although the atmosphere is quite dry, it is very subject to 
abrupt changes, and extreme vicissitudes of temperature. The same is true of 
that portion of New Mexico and Texas, best adapted to comsumptives— those 
fierce "northers," to which they are subject, often causing a change of tempera- 
ture of 50 or 60 degrees in a few hours, and rendereng winter clothing very ac- 
ceptable. And yet Dr. Lawson says : " it is extremely probable, if not posi- 
tively certain, that the territory known as New Mexico,'embracing Santa Pe, is 
more favorable to consumptives than any point on the American continent, if 
not in the civilized world." Minnesota, at the time this was written, although 
even then a great resort for consumptives, had not become known to the slo\» 
Pegasus of the medical muse. Drs. Gregg and Hammond, in their accounts of 
the climate, show it to be very similar to. but inferior to that of Minnesota. It 
is dryer — rather too dry — increasing the bronchial irritiition and dyspepsia, aris- 
ing from inflammatory action of the mucous membrauce of the stomach, and in- 
flammation of the lungs. The climate is more changeable than ours, and subject 
to severer currents of wind. With these exceptions, the climate is very similar 
to ours. The air is dry and pure, and "persons withered almost to mummies 
are to be occasionally encountered, whose extraordinary age is only to be in- 
ferred from their recollection of certain notable events, which had taken place in 
times far remote." 

Yet we have in Minnesota a climate superior as a resort for invalids, to even 
New Mexico. We have never had any epidemic of typhoid or other fevers, 
but owing to its warmer climate (its yearly mean being 50° 6) New Mexico is 
somewhat subject to this class of disease. The typhoid fever raged there as an 
epidemic from 1837 to 1839. Our winds, instead being strong, cold, and con- 
tinued currents, constitute rather a lively agitation, or perturbation of the air ; 
and finally, Minnesota is as accessible by railroad and steamers as Chicago, while 
in New Mexico, Dr. Lawson says that "the difficulty of access, as well as the 
want of accommodations, and the character of the population, (Indians and 
hunters, or "rangers,") will for a long|period, deter even those who have suffi- 
cient physical ability, from visiting the country." 

The conclusion is thus forcibly impressed upon us, that for invalids, as well as 
for every class of inhabitants required to populate a State, Minnesota is superior 
as a place of settlement to any region in the world." 

Without asserting that all persons afHicted with pulmonary disease will in- 
variable recover in Minnesota, it may be safely claimed that no climate under 
heaven offers equal advantages to this class of invalids. ^Fhile it is undoubted- 
ly true that a larger percentage of those in the early stages of the disease will 
recover, there can be no doubt but that those in the second and third stages often 
get well here. No physician «an foretell the result of a trial. The only method 
of deciding the question is by actual residence. There are those here, whom no 
one would" take to be consumptives, who have had but one lung for over ten 
years. >Iany come too late, or coming in time, continue here the over-taxation 
of mind or body, or other unhealthy habits, which first broke them down. Their 
friends blame the climate, if they fail to recover ; but the fact is well established, 
that any case within the reach of climatic influence, will get well here, if any- 
where. Another fact equally well established, is that a permanent residence 
here is better, in order to render the cure permanent. Many instances might be 
cited, where invalids, after spending a year or so here, and apparently got well, 
have gone East and died of the disease ; of others, experiencing a retain of the 
old symptoms, and making a second recovery after returning to Minnesota. 
Many cases, however, are cured, or greatly benefitted, by a sojourn of a few 



36 • MINNESOTA : 

months. Sometimes years are required to effect a complete cure. It is better 
for all desiring to secure the benefits of our climate, to cut loose from all busi- 
ness relations where they reside, take up their abode, and go into business here, 
as a resident has much better chances of recovery than a msitor, who is de- 
prived of /lomeconi/bris and associations. Seasons vary, more or less, every- 
where. Some are more favorable than others, but taken one year with another, 
Minnesota, as a sanitarium, will be found all that it is represented to be. 

St. Paul, Minn., Feb. 4, 1868. 

Dear Sik: — Your letter of February 8d, 1P68, has been received. An obser- 
vation of nearly eleven years enables me to assure you that in your pamphlet 
you have not over-estimated the wonderful salubrity of this climate. 

Ih many pulmonary affections the air seems directly curative, and dyspeptics 
will most cer'ainly be benefitted by a residence in this State. 'I'he dry, bracing 
atmosphere acts as a stimulant to the digestive organs; while the great changes 
in temperature encourage circulation, and thus carry the rich blood to all parts 
©f the body. 

Digestion is that process by which supplies are taken into the blood from the 
alimentary canal: and it has been well said that when you have plenty of good 
air, and a good digestion, scrofula and consumption will be unknown. The pure 
air we have- and it is now well understood by physicians, that our citizens eat 
and digest the rich, animal food so abundant here, with much less call for high 
seasoning and for stimulating sauce, than they have been used to require else- 
where. 

The effect of the dry, cold air in relieving congestion of the liver is also remarka- 
ble; and hundreds here who came from the South and West broken down by 
malarial fevers, can testify to the rapidity with which they have recovered their 
health and strength. Youis respectfully. 

D . W. HAND,M.D. 
G. Hewitt, Esq. 

MINNESOTA SCENERY — RESORTS FOR TOURISTS. 

The scenery of M innesota has attracted the attention of many writers, paiot- 
ers and poets, and elicited eulogies in prose and verse, ever since the first white 
man stood on the brink of St. Anthony's Falls, or listened to the gleeful splasti- 
ings of Minnehaha. The brilliant purity, dryness and elasticity of the air, bring- 
ing every object out with bold, distinct outlines, lends a peculiar charm to the 
lovely scenery which everywhere abounds. The nights, particularly, are serene 
and beautiful beyond descfiption. Prof Maury, author of the "Physical Geo- 
graphy of the Sea," says : "At the small hours of night, at dewy eve and early 
morn, I have looked out with wonder, love and admiration, upon the steel blue 
sky of Minnesota, set with diamonds and sparkling with brilliants of purest ray. 
Herschell has said, that in Europe, the astronomer might consider himself highly 
favored, if by watching the skies for one year, he shall, during that period, find, 
all told, one hundred hours suitable for satisfactory observation. A telescope 
mounted here, in this atmosphere, under the skies of Minnesota, would have its 
•powers increased many times over what they would be, under canopies less 
brilliant and lovely," and many hundred such hours could be found here within 
that period. ' 

The State is encircled by lakes and rivers, like the garden of Eden, as pic- 
tured by the imagination. In fact, the numerous streams and lakes of Minneso- 
ta, form one of its characterietic charms, and when it was the habitation of the 
Indians, they showed their appreciation of them by erecting their rude lodges on 
their shady, pebbly shores. The larger lakes, with outlets, aie from one to thir- 
ty miles in diameter. The smaller class, however, are much more numerous, and 
"generally distinguished, also, for their clear, white, sandy shores, set in gentle, 
grassy slopes, or rimmed with walls of rock, their pebbly beaches sparkling with 
cornelians and agates, while the oak grove or the denser wood, which skirts its 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 37 

margin, completes the grac«fnl and picturesqae outline." Prof. Maury says : 
"There is in this territory a greater number of these lovely sheets of laughing 
water, than in ail the country besides. They give variety and beauty to the 
laudsc^ipe ; they soften the air, and lend all th<nr thousand charms and attrac- 
tions to make this goodly laud a lovely place of residence. We see that, with 
these beautiful sheets of water, nature has done for the upper Mississippi what 
EUett proposes should be done by the government for th\; Ohio, and what Xa- 
poleon III is doing for the rivers of France." 

These lakes all abound in fish, superior in fluvor and quality to those of the 
sluggish streams of the Western States. Many leaping brooks, fed by springs, 
are pui-e and cold as mountains streams, aad abound in speckled trout. To the 
disciples of" Izak Walton, Minnesota is a perfect paradise. To one fond of the 
sport, nothing could be more delightful than to drive out to one of these lovely 
sheets of water, spending the heat of the day o:i their shady shores, and the 
morning and evening in a small boat, with rod and tackle In the spring and 
fall these lakes are all covered with ducks and other water fowl, affording rare 
amusement for the sportsman. 

So the tourist who seeks respite from hot pavements, brick walls, and sultry 
cities, rekixatioQ of mind from the cares of business, recreation and recuperation, 
could take up his abode in no more favored spot. Unlike the cramped quarters, 
artificial enjoyments and tiresome ex'-itement of fashionable places of resort, 
like Saratoga or Newport, where the heat, dust, and annoyance of city life, is 
found, without ;my of its comforts, here tlie broad fields of primitive nature opens 
wide to view, and invites him to invade her precincts, invigorating body and 
mind. 

From the first of May until the first of August, fishing is the principal sport. 
Sometimes wild pigeons, which oft^Mi breed in our woods, may be shot in great 
numbers in June. After the first of August till frost, fowling commences, and 
the gun and dog take the place of hook and tackle. The first of August in 
Minnesota is what the first of vSeptember is in England, when the game law per- 
mits the shooting of prairie chickens, pheasants grouse, &c., which abound eve- 
rywhere. The larger game, such as deer, elk, and occasionally a bear or buffalo, 
come in with cold weather, and continue till spring. In the fall and spring, 
duck and geese are found plentifully in every little lake. 

Not only to the mere sportsman does .Minnesota offer superior attractions, 
but to the tourist generally, and all who would seek rest, natural repose, and 
quiet enjoyment in a cool, bracing and healthful climate, surrounded by all the 
pleasant associations of nature, "unmarred by the rude hand of art." Railroads 
and stage coaches may be taken, and the remotest parts of the State reached by 
easy or rapid stages, as may be preferred. 

Every variety of scenery will be met with on these excursions ; now rugged, 
bold, grand, and imposing ; now lovely, beautiful and picturesque. The pecu- 
liar properties of the air impart a softened brilliancy to the landscape, similar to 
what is seen under the skies of Italy. When clothed in the slyvan garments of 
summer, decked with the floral gems of a thousand fragrant prturies, and lighted . 
by the gorgeous tints of its sunshine, or mellowed and softened by the dreamy 
haze of the "Indian summer" of the autumn months, nothing could surpass the 
scenery of Minnesota, diversified as it is with rock-ribbed hills and slumbering 
valleys, woodland and prairie, lofty and rugged bluffs, ravines, gorges, cataracts, 
cascatles, eternal springs of limpid purity, and leaping streams whicb never dry. 

GENERAL INTORMATIOX. 

ANSWKRS TO A FEW OF THE THOUSAND QUE.STIO.VS ASKED ME WILL BE FOUND IN THB 
FOLLOWING OOMBIVATIOS OF DISJOINTED ITEMS. 

Persons with families should not con.e here entirely destitute to bi-ave the 
trials and privations of pioneer hfe. 

Men with means at their command possess, of course, here as elsewhere, great 
advantages. There is, perhaps, no question that money can, on an average, be 



38 MINNESOTA : 

handled to better advantage in a new and thriving Western countiy, than in the 
old settlements of the East, and Europe. There are opened here a thousand 
avenues into which capital can be profitably turned, and as it promotes the 
growth and development of the State, it adds each day to the security of the in- 
vestment. Those familiar with the commercial, manufacturing and financial 
affairs of Minnesota, assure me that there has not been a time since the flush 
period of 1857, when half the field for safe and profitable investments of capital 
was occupied. Until the last year this want has been a source of great incon- 
venience and delay to the enterprise of the State ; but now that we have entered 
upon a career of solid progress, and our population rapidly increasing, we find 
capitalists seeking investments here for their money, and giving new life and vigor 
to many useful enterprises that else would have lingered and languished. 

Our reputation as a healthy country brings many invalids here, who came to 
regain their health, and do not wish to settle down permanently, or engage iu 
business until they have tested the climate. They do not want to be idle, or 
desire to make expenses while here, and therefore many seek positions as teach- 
ers, clerks, &c. The consequence is here, as indeed everywhere, these positions 
are always crowded. Many young men iu good health come expecting employ- 
ment of this character, and are disappointed. They then wish themselves back, 
or wish they had learned a good trade, or understood and inclined to farm life. 
They see around them here,men prosperous and contented on farms ; some mak- 
ing fortunes, and but little exposed to the vicissitudes attending many other pur- 
suits ; while our merchants and professional men do i-easonably well, it is an un- 
deniable fact that our farmei-s are more uniformly successful than any other clafls. 
Indeed, the portion of farm work now done by machinery, leaves but little that 
is irksome or forbidding iu the life of a fanner So different is the businees now 
from what it used to be, and so light is the work of a farmer here, as compared 
with the East, that it is not surprising so many are disposed to engage in 
the business. A vocation at once so honorable and independent will each year 
commend itself more and more to sensible men, and instead of rearing their sons 
to the uncertainties of the professions and mercantile life, they will devote them 
to work that is blessed, because it makes two blades of grass grow where only 
one grew before — bringing wealth out of the earth, enriching and ennobling 
themselves, and adding to the material wealth of the country. 

TIME TO COME WAY TO GHT HERE — PRICE OF LAND SEASON FOR OPENING FARMS — 

COST OF SAME PRICE OF LUMBER — MECHANICS* WAGES FARM HELP HOTELS 

COST OF LIVING — PRICE OF STOCK, &C., &C. 

Invalids come at all seasons, and this is, perhaps, right ; yet the months of 
March and April generally furnish more disagreeable weather than the other ten 
months of the year. 

Those who intend to take farms that are opened and in use, should be here iu 
time to do fall plowing, which is done in the months of October and November. 
Those who intend to open farms should be here in the spring, so as to have their 
breaking done before the first of August. Ground broken after that time had 
far better not have been touched, (.'rops are put in from the first of April to 
the 10th of June, and gathered iu the months of xVugust and September. 

Government land can be had with laud warrants or money, at from $1.00 to 
^1.25 per acre, and in portions of the State at $2.50. Good wild land can be 
had from second hands at frotu $1.00 to $15.00 per acre, according to the dis- 
tance from g'ood trading towns, steamboat landings, and railroads. Tlie differ- 
ent Land Grant Railroads own immense quantities, located in odd sections, along 
the line of their roads, and sell at from $2.00 to $8.00 per acre, on long time 
and at reasonable rates of interest The prices of good farms must be esMmated 
by the reatler from these figures, and the prices of materials and labor herewith 
furnished. It should be understoo I that free homesteads under the act of Con- 
gress are not found within sight of cities, affording good laud, hay, wood and 
water, but must be looked for in the more remoti^ and less thickly settled districts. 

In gi^'ing the following estimates, some allowance should be made for the fact 
that prices have not yet entirely receded from those of war times, but are getting 



ITS ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS. 39 

down gradually to a reasonable figure. The way to get here will be found in 
the pages devoted to " Railroads aud Steamboats." We open the year 1868 
with all rail from the East and South, to many remote localities in this State — 
our lines being completed to St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids, nearly 80 miles above 
St. Paul, on the Mississippi River, aud to Minuetouka Lake, about thirty miles 
south-west of St. Paul ; to Le Sueur, 60 miles up the Minnesota River ; to 
Waseca, 105 miles above Winona.-towards St. Peter. All our railroads are now 
in the hands of active men, who are pushing them forward as rapidly as possible. 
Those preferring to travel by river can have first-class side-wheel steamers, daily, 
from any point on the Mississippi River to St. Paul. Fare from Chicago $20 ; 
from St. Louis by boat the same. 

Having given the prices of land, I will give estimateis for putting it to uae. 
To break prairie land costs from $2.50 to 14.00 per acre ; timber laud of course 
much higher. Lumber costs from $ 14.00 to .^17 .00 per thousand feet for fencing, 
according to the distance from the mills. Posts are made of cedar, tamrack, oak, 
pine and locust Machinery does a large part of the farm work. We have 
gang-plows, seed sowers, cultivators, reapers and harvesters, mowers, threshers 
by horse power aud steam. Men engage exclusively in these branches — have 
their own machinery, aud going from farm to farm, gathering a man's crop and 
putting it in market in a few days. Hired meu are procured with but little 
trouble for farm work, and at prices ranging from $16 to ^30 per month ; hi-ed 
girls at from $7 to $10. The expense of building houses must be gathered by 
the reader from the price of lumber and mechanics' wages. Lumber for dwell- 
ings eosts from $15 to $22 per thousand, and carpenters get from $2.00 to $3.50 
per day ; brick aud stone masons from $2.00 to $4.00 per day. Large barns 
are not required — or, at least, are seldom found. When the threshing is done in 
the fall, the straw is thrown upon the timbers constructed with " crotch and 
rider," which affords a warm and secure shelter for stock in all weather. Farm 
horses here are worth from ^80 to $180 ; cows from $30 to $45, Abundance 
of good hay grows wild on our marshes and meadows, is considered equal to 
the Kentucky blue grass, and by many superior to clover and timothy. The ex- 
pense of living here can be estimated by the prices charged for board at hotels 
and private, boardiug houses. The prices range from $1.00 to $3.00 per day at 
hotels, and from .^1.00 to $2.00 at private boarding houses. These are the 
prices in the larger cities of the State, but good accommodations are procured 
in thrifty towns, aud on the shores of attractive lakes, at more moderate prices. 
The quality of the fare and the charges are to some extent under the control of 
the travelling public. Where a man feeds low and charges high, it should be 
your pleasure, as it certainly is you duty, to exercise the " traveller's privilege," 
and speak out ; — let the fact be^ known as you pass around. It is the only cor- 
rective of this abuse — the only protection against the most disagreeable imposi<- 
tion known among men. Thf' public pay their money and take,their choice. If 
they commend what is commendable, and censure the opposite, exercising a 
cheerful discrimination, it will work a cure. The mau who cau keep a hotel 
knows that an appeal to the stomach and the pocket never failed in a verdict ! 
I am the more particular on this point, because of the great interests of the State 
in this matter. The mau who first visits a place in bad weatlier, gets to a mean 
hotel, is badly fed and over- charged, will carry the disagreeable impressions of 
that place to his dying day. 

tejst years ago. 

In contrasting the present of Minnesota with the past, it may not be unprofit- 
able to recur for a moment to the " flush times" of 1857. The wonderful specu- 
lative fever that pervaded the West ten years ago, found its culmination in Min- 
nesota. Young, attractive, with domain enough for an empire, it was not stranee 
ihat thousands came here from the older States, aud other countries, in search of 
fame and fortune. In the multitudes who came here in those excited and ex- 
citing times, were many of the best men of the localities from which they came, 



40 MINNESOTA. 

and, on an average, perhapa as g-ood a class of people as ever flocked to a new 
country. 

There however seemed this difference between the tide that poured into Min- 
nesota, and that which drifted to the gold fields of the Pacific coast: While the 
latter, as. a rule, expected to get wealth even if they had to di.^- for it, the former 
seemed to thick they could readily obtain it here, and without any special wear 
and tear of muscle. The i-esult was, a population made up mainly of specula- 
tors ;— nobody to work, nobody to develope the resources of the Territory ; all 
these rich, broad acres — all these immense water-powers — all our great wilderness 
of lumber, as undisturbed as when the Indians controlled them. Cities and 
towns built, with no productive country or agricultural community around to 
support them, filled with men who came here, some with money aiid some with- 
out, but all engaged in the all-absorbing whirl of wild speculation, dealing in 
corner lots and sections of moonshine, with money at from three to ten per cent 
a month — raising nothing from the earth — living upon the flour and meat, and 
even vegetables, brought up the river on the boats that carried them here ! 

Such was the condition of Minnesota when overtaken by the memorable finan- 
cial crash of 1857. The reader need not be told that the shrinkage of values 
■v^as — terrific! nor that they resembled Wirt's blind preacher, whose "descent 
was beautiful and sublime, as his elevation had been rapid and enthusiastic." 

There are certain dangerous diseases that attack in childhood, from which, if 
the patient recovers, he can safely claim immunity henceforth. Ours was of that 
sort, and so well defined as to not mistake its type. From that time we date our 
rise and solid growth, and while to-day we look back with amazement upon those 
times, we rectdl men of that period to whom we are indebted for much of our 
present prosperity. 

MINNESOTA TO-DAY. 

No account has been given in these pages of the difficulties through which 
this State has had to struggle. Their recital would serve to show a progress 
under difficulties, such as no other State has ever attained ; and it would seem 
that we have indeed, like the fabled spectre ship, " sailed the faster in the very 
teeth of the wind." 

The year 1867, although not in every respect what we could have .wished, has 
been in the aggregate the best year we have ever known. More men have taken 
to the plough ; there have been more acres of land broken ; more grain pro- 
duced ; more minerals developed ; more lumber made ; more houses built ; 
more manufactories started ; more railroads constructed ; more boats employed ; 
more freight carried ; more people added to the State, than in any year of its 
history. 'J'his has not been done under any sudden influence of flush times and 
wild speculative mania, such as all new western. States must have, but the result 
of causes naturally producing these results — and that through a year not generally 
regarded as a prosperous one, or in any i-espect calculated to give unusual stim- 
ulus to progi'css. Indeed, our people have been wisely held in check by reason of 
the gloom and disasters of other sections, and the apprehension that the year 
was to bring us another of those financial revulsions for which the sevens had 
become so painfully noted. 

We have now entered upon 1868 with a prospect for the future which the 
most favored periods of the past bear no comparison. Miunesotians all seem 
full of confidence in the future of this State, and there are abundant rea.sons for 
the faith that is in them. Every city, town and district shows life and progress 
Our farmers — that strong arm of our destiny— all cheerful and thrifty, with their 
numbers rapidly increasing ; our manufactories multiplying ; our railroads on a 
sound basis, and stretching to every portion of the State ; immigi-ation greatly 
on the increase ; eastern capital fceeking investments in our midst ; our reputa- 
tion established as a Sanitaiium for the world ! With such a State, and such a 
start, may we not confidently look forward to the time when Minnesota shall 
stand among States, as Napoleon among warriors — the Himalaya among moun- 
tains 1 

THE END. 



^HE SAINT PAUL PIONEER, 

THE OLDEST AND BEST NEWSPAPER IN THE STATE. 

A DEMOCRATIC DAILY, TRI-WEEKLY, & WEEKLY JOURNAL. 

As an advertising medium the Saint Paul Pioneer is unsurpassed by any 
paper in the Northwest. 

TERMS. 

Daily, 1 year, $10.00 Tri-weekly, 1 year, $6.00 Weekly, 1 year, $2.00 
" 6 months, 5.00 " G mo's 3.00 " 6mo's, LOO 

Address PIONEER PRINTING COMPANY, 

Saint Paul, Minnesota. 



jLxxxa oA^IIiX PA>XJXi Fxvllibo. 

THE LEADING. REPUBLICAN PAPER OF THE STATE. 

Advertisers are assured that its Total Circulation is Three-Fold 

that of any other Paper published in Minnesota. 

Especial Attention paid to Statistics of tlie Development and Growtii of the State. 

TERMS : 

DAILTiT One "Y"ear, .$10.00 ; Three Mlontlis, JiS.SO 

THI-W^EEKZLTT " 6.00; " 1.50 

"THE WEEKLY PRESS" is the LARGEST PAPER published west of Chicago. 

Rates of Subscription— One Year, $2.00 
Address, "Press Printing Co., St. Paul, Minn." 

THE SAINT PAUL DISPATCH. 

PUBLISHED DAILY, SEMI-WEEKLY & WEEKLY. 

TERMS. 

DAILY, per year, - - - • $5 00 

SEMI- WEEKLY, « - - - - 2 00 

WEEKLY, " - - - 1 50 

RAMALEY, HALL & CO. 

ALSO 

STEAM BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS AND BOOKBINDERS, 

MINNESOTA STREET, between Third and Fourth, ST. PAUL, MINN. 
THE ONLY 

Representative Catholic Journal in the 

Published with the approval of Rt. Rev. Bishop of St. Paul. 
By JOHN C. DEVEREUX, 

Catholic Block, Third street, St. Paul, Minn. 



THE FIBST BlVISIftS OJ|.,T 

ST. PAUL & PACIFIC^ i 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




1868. 



LAND DEPARTMENT. 1868. 



FARMS AND HO MES IN MINNESOTA. 

This Company now offers for sale 

500,000 ACBMS OF LAND, 

Located along their two Railroad lines, viz : from St. Paul via St. Antho- 
ny, Anoka, St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids to Watab, and from St. 
Anthony via Minneapolis, Wayzetta, Crow River, 
Waverly and Forest City to the Western 
Boundarv of the State. 



For Grain Growing, 

I The lands in the counties of Hennepin, "Wright, Stearns, Benton and Meek- 
er, present unsurpassed advantages. Farmers from the Eastern States are 
selecting these lands in preference over all others forthe purpose of raising 
wheat, the great staple article of Western Commerce. These counties also 
contain an abundance of fine hardwood timber, which is in great demand 
for various purposes, and finds a ready market along the Railroads and 
pays not only for the clearing of the land, but for the land itself. 

For Stock Raising, 

' The counties of Anoka, Isanti and Sherburne, are particularly well adapted. 
I The soil is a rich, sandy loam, partly prairie, brusli and light timber, some- 
I what rolling, with innumerable fresh water lakes, and traversed by fine 
I running streams, which are bordered by an abundance of good meadow 
lands, affording an unlimited supply of grass and hay. They are easy of r 
access to the mines on Lake Superior, and the great Pineries of the north- j 
eru part of the State, which affords the best and principal markets for I 
cattle in the country. In connection with stock raising it is necessary to j 
call attention to the fact, that the Dairy Business is as yet in its infancy, 
which is shown by the high prices of butter and cheese, and the large im- 
portations of those articles every season from the Eastern States. 

Wool Raising 

Is also becoming very profitable in Minnesota, and, besides the lands in 
the counties of Anoka, Isanti and Sherburne, described above, the prairie 
lands in the counties of Meeker, Kandiyohi and Monongalia, are par- 
ticularly sought after for that purpose. 

Terms of Payment: 

These lands are ofiered in tracts of 40, 80 and IGO acres and upwards, at 
prices varying from §5 to $10 per acre (with some few tracts ft higher 
figures) rated according to the quality and nearness to the Railroad. They 
j are sold for cash or on long credit (ten years if desired) with 7 per cent. 
I annual interest, thus enabling persons of small means to acquire, on easy 
terras, a home in a healthy and productive region. Those who have already 
settled along the lines of these Railroads have found their lands increase 
in value at the rate of 50 per cent, per annum. 

These lands have been reserved from sale since 1857 ; they are in the 
midst of considerable settlements, and convenient to Churches, Schools 
and established roads and markets. 
For further information apply to 

GEOHG-E L. BECKER, 

Land Commissioner, St. Paul, Minn. 
HERISIANN TROTT, Secretary. 



016 096 652 n 



